Last Hope
by MadHatter5959
Summary: Almost 1000 years after the fifth blight, despite the leaps in technology made by the world, the last grey warden has died. With the last defense against the Darkspawn gone, the world trembles as the Darkspawn, along with new and horrible enemies, begin their onslaught on Thedas. Only 2 people stand in their way, but can they find a new way to end the blight before it's to late?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Rough Start

Jane MCcarthy stumbled, falling to one knee hard, feeling the skin break. She stayed there like that, panting as the afternoon sun beat down on her head, and slowly got back to her feet, resuming her slow walk. She looked around, eyes squinting against the sun as sweat slowly travelled down her face. It was a vast space of nothing but dead grass and shrubs for miles, the scars of the fifth blight still plaguing the land that was once called Lothering after all of these years. She despised the damage the darkspawn had done to this land, but that was long ago, before her great grandfather was born, when the grey wardens were still around and Ferelden was constantly at war. She smiled slightly at this as she slowly walked on. Ferelden was still constantly at war, and for a long time they were winning. Now they were at war against their oldest enemy, and they were losing.

She sighed, shifting her rifle to her other shoulder and walking on. Endless walking; she had the amazing luck of having no transportation. The fifth blight had been in 9:30-31; almost 1000 years ago. From past experience, everyone thought that Ferelden would fall sooner or later, but after the inquisitor saved Thedas from Corypheus, Ferelden quickly gained power, and after 50 years rivaled Orlais. Ever since then they battled for superiority, neither able to gain the upper hand, until 100 years ago, where both signed the treaty of Andrastes tears, finally forging peace between the nations after years of war.

Then, a month ago, the last grey warden died.

She wiped the sweat from her eyes and smiled, finally seeing her destination; a rickety old building. A few people tried to populate the area that was once Lothering, but no matter how many years past, the land never recovered, and she guessed it never will. They quickly gave up, leaving small houses abandoned here and there. This one was the one she was supposed to meet her father at in case things went south and he wasn't able to make it home.

Well, things went south, and badly.

There had been a few more blights over the years, but all were put down; even wars between Orlais and Ferelden were stopped temporarily to fight the blight. No matter how far they came with technology, they still couldn't find a way to stop the blight besides the grey wardens. Guns killed darkspawn just as well as a sword, but were useless against the arch demon. The grey wardens were still vital to the survival of Thedas. So when the last one died and took all of his secrets with him, they were defenseless.

She sighed in relief as she finally arrived at the old building. Even if her father wasn't there yet, there would be supplies hidden away at least, and she desperately needed them. She ran out of water the day before, and only had a piece of moldy bread left for food. She was exhausted, having been traveling by foot for a long time. She couldn't wait to lie down and sleep for a few hours, regain her strength.

She was about to open the door when she heard a loud clanging noise, making her freeze with her hand on the doorknob. She waited, and sure enough heard more noises; it sounded like someone was searching the house. She slowly pulled her rifle off of her shoulder, checking to see if the safety was off. Gun aimed straight ahead, she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. It made a very loud creaking as it slowly swung open.

The source of the noise jumped, swinging around and aiming a pistol at her. If he wasn't aiming a gun at her she would have lowered hers; it was a kid, probably no older than 15, dirty with his clothes ripped almost to shreds.

"Hey, calm down now. Relax." She said, slowly walking into the building. The kids hand were shaking, making any shot he would have attempted miss; he was obviously scared.

"W-who are you? What do you want?" He said, eyes wide with fear. He must have been alone for awhile now to be scared of her; most men these days laugh at a woman with a gun. She didn't lower her gun, but she tried her best to soften her voice.

"My name is Jane. This is my dads shack, and I was supposed to meet him here." She paused, then said, "Are you hungry?"

He hesitated at first, then nodded.

"Well, I know where my father hid his supplies. If you put your gun down, I will share some with you."

He hesitated, still doubtful of her, and she didn't blame him; these days, you had to be, or you usually died…or worse. She was about to speak again when the kids stomach growled loudly. He blushed and finally gave in, lowering his gun. She lowered hers as well, smiling. "Got a name?"

He hesitated again, being shy, then said, "Carl."

"Well, Carl, as long as you promise not to try and shoot me, I will hold up with my end of the deal,"

He smiled at her, and she relaxed for the first time in what felt like ages, though it was only a week. She put her guns strap back over her shoulder and went over to the bed. The mattress looked old, and was probably filled with a colony of bugs, but she didn't want the bed; she moved the bed to the side, and felt along the wall until she found a part of it that felt different. She hit it a few times, and it gave in. She moved it out of the way and pulled several bags full of various supplies, from canned food to medical supplies. She reached in farther and pulled out a couple of canisters full of water, silently thanking her father for always being prepared.

She turned and saw Carl staring at the bags as if they were gifts from Andraste. She laughed at the sight, finding it cute in a strange way. "Carl, give me a hand and gather something to start a fire. Wood, cloth, anything flammable will do." He nodded and went off. She sighed in relief and started pulling what she needed from the bags, glad for a moment to relax and eat.

.

She woke suddenly. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of her grogginess and find out why she had woken up. She looked around and saw Carl up as well, yawning. She was about to dismiss it and go back to sleep when she heard a twig snap outside. She quietly got up, taking her rifle from the wall. Carl pulled out his pistol, looking at her with fear in his eyes. She put a finger to her lips, and he nodded. Normally she would just put it off as being an animal, but no animals dwelled in these lands; they avoided it like the plague it is. She started creeping towards the door when a loud scream broke the silence of the night, making her blood freeze.

"Janneth!" Carl yelled, and ran towards the door. "Stop!" She yelled, but he ignored her, tearing the door open to go outside.

And he ran head first into a dark spawn. The creature towered over the kid, wearing old, rusted armor. Its eyes were dark, endless pits, and its mouth contained rows of sharp teeth. It held a long, cruel looking sword, rusted with blood, as was its ancient armor.

The stuff of nightmares.

Carl gaped, slowly backing up. The dark spawn roared, breaking Jane out of her trance. She quickly aimed her rifle and fired. The bullet hit it in the face, tearing half of it off, but it didn't fall. Carl screamed, raising his pistol to shoot it, but the darkspawn swung his sword, the sword a blur as it came across, cutting the kids head clean off of his shoulders. His head fell and hit the ground, rolling over next to Jane's feet, lifeless eyes looking up at her, as if accusing her of his death. She screamed, holding down the trigger and letting the automatic rifle fire, tearing the darkspawn apart. It finally fell with a loud clang and she stopped firing, panting loudly, horrified at what she just witnessed. She felt numb, useless, unable to save Carl.

She didn't have time to break down; she heard movement, and another darkspawn ran through the door, charging her. She didn't hesitate this time; she fired her gun, feeling the recoil against her shoulder as the bullets hit the darkspawn. It collapsed at her feet, but wasn't dead; it was still trying to grab her ankle. She shot it in the head, killing it, and went outside to see if there was more.

It was dark, and she could barely see, but she saw all she needed to, and almost threw up at the sight. The girl that screamed, whom Carl called Janneth, lay on the ground, torn up and very dead. Kneeling next to her was the last darkspawn, who was eating the poor woman. It looked up at Jane, debating whether she was a threat or not, eyes staring right at her.

She was a threat. She aimed her gun, firing it and killing the monster with one shot, making its head explode. She felt some of the blood and gore hit her pants, and she gave in, falling to her knees and throwing up the food she just ate.

She got up after it was over, wiping her mouth off. She couldn't stay here any longer; where there was one darkspawn, there was 100 more. She went back inside, packing up as much of the supplies as she could carry and hiding the rest back behind the bed. She took out her knife and carved her initials into the wall; that way her dad would at least know she had been there.

She exited the house and started traveling, not knowing where she was going to go, but knowing that Carl's dead face was going to haunt her dreams for many nights to come.

.

.

"He's late." Steven Hawke said out loud, forgetting that he was alone. He sighed, checking his watch again and glaring at it. He had agreed to wait for his friend, Jake, here an hour ago. The man wasn't known to be late; when you were in the military, you learned to be on time. Something side tracked him, and Steven had no idea where he was coming from. He sighed, sitting against a tree and setting his shotgun down next to him.

Everything had gone to shit too fast. One day, everything was normal. Steven was relaxing at home, glad to finally use his vacation days from the Ferelden military. He rarely used them, but finally decided he needed a break. Just as he was beginning to enjoy a good cup of coffee, he gets a call telling him that the last grey warden, Harven Cain, had died. Steven went numb at the news; he had known Harven personally, and was crushed. Not even a week later, the darkspawn attacked, most likely sensing that their only opposition had finally fallen, and everything went to shit.

The military thought they had it under control; darkspawn without an arch demon were uncoordinated and easy to take care of. But this wasn't the normal small bands of darkspawn; they came pouring out of the damn ground like fizz from a soda bottle that's been shaken up to much. And they didn't stop; they just kept coming, over running everything in their path. No one saw an arch demon whatsoever. It didn't matter.

The Ferelden army tried to resist them, but no matter how many they killed, more came to take their place, and they started to lose ground. Nothing worked; air raids, mortars, dragon's fire, nothing stemmed the tide of monsters. It got so bad that the Ferelden's called for aid from Orlais, who answered. With their combined forces, it seemed like they would finally push the darkspawn back.

But suddenly another army of darkspawn appeared, as if from no where, and hit the combined armies from their flank, wedging them and slaughtering them. After that everything went to chaos; every man fought for themselves, killing each other over weapons and food. The remaining forces fell back to Denerim, and have holed up there, barely able to keep back the onslaught of darkspawn. Anyone who wasn't inside the city when they closed it off was shit out of luck, left to fend for themselves.

Since Steven had been on leave, he wasn't in Denerim, and got locked out. He had been wandering, doing his best to survive for about a week until he got a message from his friend to meet up at the location he was at now.

And here he was, yet no sign from Jake. Most people would worry, but Steven wasn't that type of person. Jake was his friend of course, but the world was coming to an end, and Jake being killed on his way here wouldn't be all that surprising. Not only does one have to avoid the Darkspawn, you have to avoid other people as well, who were sometimes worse. At least Darkspawn usually killed you quickly; some people will do much worse things, and laugh about it as if it was funny.

Steven sighed, shifting his weight, not able to get comfortable. He'd wait until dawn, and if Jake didn't show by then, he would move on. It wasn't safe to stay in one spot too long anymore, and Steven didn't plan on dying anytime soon. He didn't join the military for the fun of it; he joined so he could learn how to survive, and that's what he planned on doing.

He was about to get up and move when he heard a rustling and saw the bushes ahead of him move. He didn't get up; he simply grabbed his gun, laying it in his lap. After a few seconds, a man stumbled out of the bushes and fell to the ground, as if he was pushed. The man was followed by 3 more men, all holding guns. The man on the ground looked up, and Steven recognized him as Jake.

Jake, it seems, and been through hell; his faces was a bloody, swelling mess, one eye so swollen he couldn't see out of it. Jake tried to stand up, but one of the men behind him smashed the butt of his gun against the back of Jakes head, knocking him back to the ground. Steven watched, holding his gun, waiting to see what would unfold.

"Well I'll be damned, the fucker wasn't lying; there really is someone waiting for him here." The smallest guy said, stepping forward. Steven guessed he was the one in charge of this little group. He had tattoos from head to toe, and as he smiled, Steven saw he was missing several teeth. _Lovely fellow._

"Not to surprising, considering we beat the shit out of him until he squealed." The third man said, laughing. He was surprisingly fat for the lack of food. The one who hit Jake said nothing, just kept his eyes fixed on Steven and his gun fixed on Jake; Steven guessed this was the one to look out for.

The leader walked up to Steven, stopping a foot away from him. Steven could smell him from here, and wrinkled his face in disgust. "Alright, listen up pig fucker." The small man said. "Hand over your weapon and anything else you might have, and your friend here gets to li-"

"Let me stop you there." Steven said, cutting the small man off, who frowned. "I could care less what you do with Jake; not only did he get captured by a group of idiots, he spilled his guts at a simple beating. He should be ashamed to be a soldier." Then Steven stood up, towering over the short man, and got right into his face.

"Another thing, you're full of shit. You would take my guns, then kill us both anyway. I'm not fucking stupid. The only thing a stinky little fuck like you will get from me is a bullet to the face. We clear?" Steven finished, watching as the little guys face grew red with anger.

"You fucking-" The little man attempted to say, starting to lift his gun, which looked like a cheap submachine gun. Steven was a lot faster; like a snake, he swung his gun, the butt of it connecting with the small mans jaw. Steven felt it break as the small man fell. He saw Jake leap up and grab the gun of the guy behind him, wrestling him for it. The fat man got over his shock and attempted to raise his gun, but again Steven was faster. He raised his shotgun and fired, hitting the fat man full in the chest, killing him. The fat man collapsed, and Steven turned to the last guy, gun aimed, when he heard a shot. He saw Jake clutch his chest, eyes wide with surprise as blood spilled from his chest and mouth, and fall. Steven didn't hesitate; he fired his shotgun, taking the last mans head almost completely off. Steven looked around, making sure there wasn't anymore surprises as the last man fell with a thud.

Not finding anyone else, Steven made sure the first guy was still on the ground, then walked over to his friend. Most people felt a rush when they fight, or feel nervous; Steven only felt calm, as if it was as natural as breathing. Must be the Hawke in him. He knelt down next to his friend, and quickly saw that there was nothing he could do; the bullet hit him dead center, hitting his heart. He gripped his friends hand as his life drained out of him until he passed, going limp.

Steven sighed, getting back up and walking over to the last of the group, who was attempting to get back to his feet. Steven felt a small bit of anger for his fallen friend, and kicked the small man in the stomach hard, knocking him back to the ground and making him wheeze. Steven roughly rolled him over with his foot, seeing the pain in the mans face. Good, now he knows how Jake felt.

"Any last words, you pathetic fucknut?" Steven said, reigning in his anger. Anger was never good on a battlefield; it only clouded your senses. The small man laughed, then cringed as he realized his jaw was broken. "Fuchh you, the Las Light wi-" He never got to finish, as Steven shot him in the face, disintegrating the mans head and feeling blood fly up into his face.

"I lied; I didn't want to hear your last words." Steven said, wiping the blood off of his face. He checked all of them for ammo, and walked over to his dead friend. He bowed his head, hoping Jake went to wherever the hell he believed in, the walked off, wondering where he was going to go next.

.

.

Jane had finally started to see more buildings, which was a good sign as well as a bad one. With more houses meant maybe more supplies, and cover from Darkspawn; but it also meant more hiding places for both Darkspawn and people. She tread carefully, rifle in her hands, keeping an eye out for any danger. She checked the houses one by one, and found nothing; there was either nothing here to begin with, or they were picked clean long ago. She sighed as she checked another house and found it empty. It had been a week since the incident with Carl, and she had enough left for about another week. But she went a whole week finding nothing, and it didn't look like it was going to get better anytime soon.

She was about to leave the house when she heard noises; it sounded like yelling and laughing. She crouched down, making sure no one could see her through the glassless windows. She crept up to one of the windows and peeked over it, finding the source of the noise. She couldn't see what was going on, but it was definitely happening in the next house over. She silently leapt through the window, slowing her breath as she crept up to the next window and peeking through. She saw 4 figures; 1 on the ground, coughing and clutching his side, 2 more hovering over him and laughing. The last guy was searching through a bag, which she quickly guessed belonged to the man on the ground. She felt anger well up inside of her; the world was ending, and people could only think for themselves. It sometimes made her wish that the Darkspawn did kill everyone, most seemed to deserve it. Then she remembered the innocent children and families that were slaughtered by the first waves of Darkspawn, and regretted her thoughts.

She ducked her head back down, debating what to do. There was no way to end this peacefully; men like them would most likely jump her, take her guns, and probably rape her. Three against one wasn't fair, but she couldn't just sit by while they beat and robbed this man; her dad said she was always too kind hearted, and that it would get her into trouble. She sighed, seeing no way but to kill them, and crept around the building until she found a doorway, the door itself torn off the hinges. She peeked around the wall, and saw their backs were still to her; good, made this much easier. She snuck in, crouched low, gun aimed directly at the nearest guy to her, the one searching through the bag. She set her sights on his head, held her breath, and put pressure on the trigger.

She stopped herself, not able to go through with it; she wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if they threatened her life, but she just wasn't a cold blooded killer. She adjusted her aim instead, and fired, seeing her bullet hit him in the leg. He cursed loudly, falling to the ground, the bags contents spilling all over as the man clutched at his leg. The other 2 quickly turned towards the noise, and she fired again, hitting another one low in the body, probably nicking his kidney. He groaned, falling to his knees, and the other guy was trying to pull out his gun, but it seemed stuck on his belt.

She got up, walked over to the remaining man, and smashed the butt of her gun against his face, feeling his nose break as his head snapped back and he fell to the ground, unconscious. She turned and repeated this with the second man, knocking him out as well. She turned back, panting, and saw the man on the ground slowly getting to his feet.

He had long, unkempt brown hair, with brown eyes to match. His lip was busted and his head a little swollen, but he got off easy as she saw it; 3 men could do some damage. She kneeled down next to him. "Are you alright?"

He looked at her, and to her surprise he was glaring. "Yes, I am fine. I'm going to guess you want a reward for saving the mage, hm?"

She blinked in response. Mage? They were rare now a days, being shunned most of the time. For awhile, relationships between people and mages improved, until one mage decided he wanted to rule the world. He ended up failing, and the hate and fear towards mages came back, even worse than before. Most were killed the instant they showed any signs. She felt sorry for mages; to be hated and killed just because you were different. That was the human way.

"Look, I didn't even know you were a mage, nor do I want a reward. I just couldn't watch as you got robbed."

He still looked suspicious, but he nodded, getting up. "Well…I thank you. I have a small amount of provisions as it is; I would have died quickly if they were taken from me."

She nodded, turning around and freezing. The first guy she had shot had gotten up, leaning against the wall and aiming a pistol at her. She felt fear grip her heart as she realized she was probably going to die.

"You stupid bit-"He had begun to say, then she saw a flash of light, and the mans chest exploded, pelting the walls with blood and gore. He died instantly, falling to the ground. She stood there frozen, not comprehending what happened, until the mage walked forward, his hand glowing. She slowly got over what she just saw, shaking her head as if it would help.

"Was…that you?" She asked, knowing the answer already. He nodded. "Yes…it was. That was the first human I've killed…it's a lot bloodier than I imagined."

She looked at his hand. He followed her gaze and shook it, making it stop glowing, and she noticed he was blushing a bit. "Sorry, I forget that most people these days haven't seen magic." He said.

She regained he composure, putting on a smile. "It's fine; it doesn't bother me."

He blushed a bit more while raising an eyebrow. "It doesn't?"

She shook her head, walking over to the other 2 to make sure she had no more surprises. "Not at all. I never had a problem with mages. Though you're the first I've seen use magic." She pressed her fingers against their necks and sighed in relief as she found a pulse. Killing Darkspawn wasn't a problem for her, but she didn't like killing humans, and would avoid it as much as possible.

She got up and saw the mage putting stuff back into his bag. "What's your name?" she asked, not wanting it to get awkward. He looked back at her, hesitating, then simply said, "Clint."

"Mine's Jane. Where are you headed?" She asked, pulling her clip out to see how much ammo she had left. About half of the clip, the sight making her cringe.

"No idea. I was just moving." He said, drawing her attention back to him. He had gathered all of his stuff, and was now standing there, waiting for her response. She heard a groan from behind her, and guessed that the man she knocked out was coming to. She debated with herself on what to do, then made a decision.

"Well, you can travel with me if you want. More strength in numbers and all that."

He gave her a questioning look. "You wouldn't mind traveling with a mage? Would make things more dangerous for you."

She glared at him, feeling a little annoyed. "I am a woman in a dying world with savage men who would do screwed up things to me if given the chance. I doubt you could make things more dangerous for me."

He blinked, surprised, then laughed. "Good point." He smiled at her. "I wouldn't mind having someone watch my back. Besides, running from Darkspawn is more fun if you're not the only one scared out of your mind."

She raised an eyebrow at him, not seeing anything funny about that, and simply walked out of the house. She turned, seeing him shrug at follow.

She had a bad feeling at that moment; she couldn't explain it, she just felt like something was majorly wrong. She looked around, trying to find the source of this strange feeling in her gut, but she saw nothing.

"Is everything all right?" Clint asked, looking at her as if she said something crazy. She shook her head and walked on. _Maybe it's because of Carl. I don't want to see anyone else die like that._

If she had known the real reason she felt like that, things would have been very different.

.

.

Steven glared at the sun, which was currently dipping behind the horizon, making a beautiful view. He wasn't mad at the sun; he was mad in general. He had been traveling along Lake Calenhad, going from small city to the next searching for supplies, and he found absolutely nothing. He had eaten the last of his provisions the night before, a pathetic meal of dried meat that only teased his roaring hunger. He had underestimated how much supplies he had, and no matter how hard he tried to spread it out, he couldn't make it last longer than a week.

He looked at the lake as he walked, seeing the reflections from the sun dance as if they were alive. It was a pretty sight; he might have actually appreciated it if he wasn't so damn hungry. He grunted to himself, looking forward and seeing a small town called Ferenhine slowly get closer. It had a decent amount of houses, and if worse came to worse he could try fishing tomorrow. He picked up the pace, sending small clouds of dust flying. He wanted to be out of the open and somewhere where he didn't feel so vulnerable.

The instant he entered the town he heard sounds of movement. He raised his shotgun, finger off the trigger, and proceeded more carefully, being ready for anything. He turned a corner and was almost tackled by a small blond woman. He quickly jumped out of the way; his reflexes still sharp from the military, and watched as she sprinted towards a house. Not far behind her, two men appeared, and quickly followed her into the house. He heard a small scuffle, than a loud thud as someone hit either the ground or a wall.

He stood there, debating on what to do. He wasn't the hero type of guy who saved damsels in distress; as he saw it, if they couldn't last against humans, then the Darkspawn would quickly end them anyway…or worse.

But he now noticed that the house they ran into was the biggest house in the town he could see, and that meant it was most likely to have food. Shrugging, he walked over to the house and walked inside as if nothing had happened.

Inside he found them quickly; the girl was on the ground, her head bleeding from a head wound, which he found out came from the wall, seeing her blood on it. One of them men turned to look at him, while the other was looking at her with hungry eyes. "What the fuck do you want" Said the one who looked his way.

Steven fixed him with a hard stare. "Looking for supplies. What's it to you?"

The guy hesitated, and then said, "Fine, but she's ours. Keep your distance." Steven looked at them, and found the guy talking had a pistol in his belt, while the other guy had a knife. Not to heavily armed, and no threat to Steven. "You don't have to worry; I'm not that pathetic." was his response. The guy looked at him, but decided to ignore his remark, turning back to the girl.

Steven went into the kitchen, actually wishing the guy would have tried something. Even though it was none of his business, he didn't condone rape, seeing it as pathetic. He opened cabinets and drawers, his mood growing fouler for every empty space he saw. He heard the two guys talking, but couldn't catch what they were saying. He opened the fridge, and then slammed it after seeing it was empty. Was there no more god damn food left in this shitty dying world?

He walked back into the living room, shaking his head in frustration, and saw that the one guy with the hungry eyes had started unbuckling his pants, while the girl was just starting to come too. She looked up, locking eyes with him as he passed, and said "Help me."

He stopped, staring her dead in the eyes. She was actually pretty, with ocean blue eyes and a slender jaw. But he wasn't like other men who jumped at anything with a pretty face. "Why?" was his response.

Her eyes grew wide. "What? Why do you thi-"But was cut off as the man with the pistol slapped her hard. "Shut up bitch. Keep your whore mouth shut and you might actually enjoy this."

Steven glared at the guy, finding him more pathetic by the second, then turned back to the girl whose lip was now busted. "Normally I keep my nose clean of shit like this, but I'll make you a deal; I'll help you if you help yourself."

She looked confused, and the guy with the gun turned towards Steven. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Shut up, I wasn't talking to you." Steven replied bluntly, not even seeing the guy; his eyes were still locked with the blonds, waiting to see what she would do. Her eyes grew wide as she finally understood what he had said, and after taking a breath, she grabbed the pistol in the guy's pants, pulling it out. He turned back to her, eyes wide with surprise as she aimed it right at his chest and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, and the guy fell, clutching his chest. His blood had splattered her in the face, and she looked horrified.

The other guy quickly grabbed the pistol from her, tearing it from her grasp and grabbing her hair. "You dumb slut, now I'm going to-"But he never got to finish, as Steven fired his shotgun, hitting the man full in the back. His blood sprayed across the wall as he fell, probably dying almost instantly. The blond still looked horrified, looking from Steven, to the dead body, and back to Steven. _She's too innocent for this new world._ He thought, wondering what to do. She would certainly die on her own, but he wasn't a babysitter, and someone who wasn't willing to do almost anything to survive would just drag him down and die.

"As I said, if you help yourself, I'll help you." He said finally, walking over to her and kneeling down. He locked eyes with her again, seeing she was still in shock. "Hey, snap out of it." He said in his best soldier's voice.

She blinked, snapping out of it, and looked at him as if she was seeing him for the first time. "I…guess I should thank you…" He raised his hand, cutting her off and making her blink again.

"No need to; you helped yourself. But you look like you still need help." He said. He saw she had dropped the pistol. He pointed towards it, saying, "Pick that pistol back up."

She looked at it as if it would grow fangs and bite her. "But…it's covered in blood…"

"So?" He said, surprising her. "Do you not realize what's going on? The world is ending. If you want to survive, you are going to have to throw away any ideas you had on how life works and morals. This is survival of the fittest, and you are going to die if you can't get over little shit like blood on a gun. Now pick up the damn pistol."

She gaped at him, surprised at the sudden speech, but slowly her hands reached out and picked up the gun. She was shaking slightly, but she did it, making him nod. "Good, now search him for any ammo. He will most likely have it in his pocket."

She hesitated for a second, then nodded, patting him down and finding a spare clip. She searched the ground until she found her pack and put it in there, standing up. She was still shaking, but she had listened and gotten over it. _She's scared. Good, fear makes you do what is needed._

He got up as well, walking towards the door. He stopped at the doorway, turning his head back to her. "You can travel with me. It won't be easy; I'm a hard bastard who travels at night and can be irritable when hungry, but as long as you're with me, you will learn how to survive these dark days and become stronger from it."

She looked at him in amazement, and then nodded. "Well, if you're irritable now, I have food…"

Steven almost laughed, walking out the door and hearing her follow. Maybe there's still a chance for this one yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Girl

"May I ask where we are headed?" Clint asked, sitting down against a tree. It was noon, and the sun wasn't letting up; they were both drenched in sweat, tired and thirsty. It had been a few days since Jane had helped Clint, and she still didn't know what to make of him. The first day he had been almost silent, his replies short and blunt. The next day, he was the complete opposite; asking her questions about herself, what she knew about mages, her occupation before the last grey warden died. She thought it was driving her insane at first, but slowly she started to enjoy it; it was nice to be able to talk to another human being, having been alone for over a month.

"Right now, Lake Calenhad." She replied, following his lead and sitting down. She hated sweating too much, and it didn't help that it made her shirt stick to her breasts; she had caught Clint glancing a couple of times, but she didn't point it out. "After that?" He asked, drawing her attention again. He seemed smart, but he asked too many questions. She decided to tell him anyway.

"Well…I was training to become a scientist and research ways to destroy the arch demon. I got to explore their research center, and I heard a rumor of a great machine that they were developing. It was said that it used the magic energy from the fade. I don't know more than that, but if they completed it…"

"That it might still be working, and we can use it to destroy the arch demon and maybe the Darkspawn as well." He finished for her, smiling. "That's the best idea I've heard since everything went to crap. Better than just wandering around, waiting for the Darkspawn to find us."

She nodded, glad that he was smart enough to figure it out; she had always been smart, but some of her friends from high school were just downright ignorant. She pulled out her water bottle, taking a long drink before putting it away, feeling refreshed. "Exactly. You're actually pretty smart Clint."

He chuckled, taking a drink of water himself. "Well, when everyone hates you, you don't have many options. I chose to educate myself to pass time, and read many books. I taught myself how to read and write, though my hand writing is horrible"

She smiled. His jokes were horrible, but it was better than the endless silence she had been used to. She randomly thought of Carl and shuddered, wishing she could forget. Clint must have noticed her reaction, because he asked, "Everything okay?"

She nodded, pushing Carl out of her mind. "Yes, I'm fine. Before I ran into you, I had helped out a kid named Carl. But the Darkspawn had captured his sister, and when he ran out to help her…"

He nodded. "I understand. Darkspawn are terrifying creatures, and seeing them alone is enough to bring nightmarea, let alone seeing a kid killed by one. You have my sympathy." He paused; he looked like he was debating something, and then shook his head to himself.

"What?" She asked, letting her curiosity get the better of her. He didn't respond, and she thought he wasn't going to tell her when he suddenly said, "Well, as a mage, I have a close connection to the fade. If you are having a nightmare, I could enter your dream and dispel the negative thoughts…but I thought it was a silly idea."

She mulled it over. Clint, entering her dreams and battling all of it's evils like a night in shining armor…She blushed, realizing what she was thinking, and shook her head, hoping he didn't see. "No, it's fine; I have to get over it myself."

She noticed her was smiling at her. _Damn._ She thought; he did see it. She waited to see if he would tease her because of it, but he simply got up, saying, "We should continue. The city of Ferenhine isn't far off, and I would like to get there before night time."

She blinked, surprised that he didn't say anything, then simply nodded, getting up and following him. She still didn't know what to think of him….but he wasn't a bad guy so far.

.

They arrived at Ferenhine just as the sun was setting, glad to see it gone; it was just now starting to cool off. But she also didn't mind seeing the sun; wherever the horde of Darkspawn goes, a huge dark cloud follows, blocking out the sun. If you can see the sun, then the horde wasn't nearby yet. There were still many of small packs of them running around and killing everything in sight, but it was the horde that was the real threat.

They walked into the city, keeping their guard up as they went. As they walked through, they saw nothing but empty buildings and random cars scattered about the place. She was about to start searching through them when she saw a light in the distance; it looked like it was coming from the center of town.

"Should we check it out?" Clint asked from behind her, making her jump. She glared at him, making him smile. "Yes, but go slow and stay to the shadows of the buildings; we have no idea what is down there."

He nodded, and they proceeded towards the light, sticking to the walls. Clint wasn't very quiet, but that couldn't be helped. The light slowly grew closer, and they started to hear voices; good, meant humans and not darkspawn. When they got close enough to hear what they were saying, Jane signaled for him to stop. Once he did, she slowly peeked around the corner of the building.

She saw a group of about 9 people surrounding a figure in the middle. All of the people were armed to the teeth; assault rifles, shotguns, she even saw one with a sniper rifle strapped to his back. They were all wearing jackets with a lit torch on the back, showing that they were part of the last light group. She looked more closely at the figure in the middle, and gasped as she saw it looked like a young girl, 17 years old at the most. She was the farthest from the light, her body nearly covered in shadow. Oddly, the small girl was smiling; being surrounded by people with guns didn't seem to faze her in the slightest.

"Did you get lost little one?" A tall woman said, wielding a submachine gun. The little girl said nothing; just stood there and smiled creepily, as if nothing was wrong. She felt Clint peek out of the corner next to her. A man with an assault rifle walked towards the little girl. "Come with us little girl, this is no place for one as young as you to be at night." He said, grabbing her arm.

Jane went to move forward, not able to help herself; she had heard nothing but bad things about the Last Light, and didn't want this young girl caught up in it. But she felt Clint grab her belt, pulling her back and hissing, "Are you crazy? There are too many; you would only get killed. You can't save them all."

She turned and glared at him, prepared to argue, until she saw his eyes grow wide. She followed his gaze, and her eyes grew wide as well.

The man who had grabbed the little girl gaped, eyes wide as he looked down at his chest and saw her hand sticking through it. Jane looked at the girl, and gasped at the sight; she was still smiling that creepy smile, but her eyes had changed. They were blood red, blood dripping down her arm. She swiftly pulled it out, splattering her face with blood as the man fell, dying. Jane noticed that her nails were long and sharp, and completely drenched in blood. She licked her fingers and smiled.

The rest of the group had frozen with surprise, then leapt into action, raising their guns. Jane, still horrified at the sight, closed her eyes, waiting for them to mow her down with bullets. But after a few seconds of silence, she opened her eyes.

The entire group stood there, frozen with their guns still raised. She looked at their faces; each one had a look of pure terror, as if they all saw their greatest fear at the same time. She saw a few of them shaking, as if trying to move but unable to. The girl giggled, raising her hand face down, fingers spread apart. Just as Jane was trying to figure out why all of them were acting this way, the girls hand glowed, similar to Clint's, and a light shot out of each finger, as fast as a bullet. She watched in horror as the lights hit 5 of the people. Unlike Clint's magic, who had made the mans chest explode, these lights shot straight through the peoples chests, right where their hearts would be, making blood spray from their backs as they all fell to the ground, dead.

Jane felt her blood run cold, fear shooting through her as the girl giggled again as if someone told a joke. She turned to the remaining three, tilting her head as if she was pondering a question. All three of the remaining people were shaking, and she saw one of them had pissed themselves. The girl focused on this man, slowly walking towards him. As she got close, he started crying, suddenly able to move and falling to his knees.

"Please, let me live. I-I didn't do anything to you." He begged, tears flowing down his face. The little girl walked right up to him, moving more into the light, and as she smiled Jane saw that her teeth were sharp, animal like. She reached her hands out, cupping the crying mans face, and spoke for the first time, her voice sounding too innocent.

"Foolish man, that doesn't matter." She spoke softly, Jane barely being able to hear her, and the mans eyes grew wide as she stabbed her fingers under his chin with one hand, and before Jane's eyes tore his bottom jaw off. He howled, clutching his face, blood spraying from where his jaw should have been. She grabbed his head, keeping him still, and ruthlessly rammed his jawbone into his skull with inhuman force, killing him.

She giggled with delight, pushing his body over and turning towards the other 2; she was a scary sight, eyes red, smiling with her sharp teeth, covered from head to toe in blood. She walked until she was standing a foot away from the last 2, who were shaking so much they could have been having seizures. She tilted her head again, thinking, and closed her eyes. The 2 people, one the girl who spoke earlier, staggered backwards, as if they were being held up by unseen hands. They stood there, not knowing what to do, then they both did something different; the woman turned around and bolted, running for her life, as the man roared, pulling out a knife and running at the small girl.

The small girls smile only grew wider as the tall man ran at her. He stabbed at her, aiming for her throat, and he almost reached it. Then the small girl moved faster than Jane believed she could, catching his wrist with her left hand, the knife no more than an inch from her throat. The man struggled, putting all his weight into his arm, and didn't budge her at all.

"You were so close; you have to be faster than that." The little girl said, twisting the mans arm hard, making him bend over. She kept twisting, making the man fall to his knees and scream in agony as she twisted beyond his arms limit. Jane heard a horrifying snap as his arm broke, the knife falling from his hand. He clutched his arm, screaming loudly as the small girl slowly bent over, retrieving the knife. She grabbed his head, forced it back, and sunk the knife into his throat, cutting along his throat and ripping it out. More blood than Jane had ever seen sprayed out, hitting the girl full in the face and blinding her as the man fell to the ground and quickly bled to death, making a nasty gurgling sound then going silent. The small girl rubbed her eyes until she could see, licking the blood off of her lips, then quickly turned her head, staring straight at Jane.

Jane froze, and felt more terror than she had ever felt in her entire life; it grabbed her body, making her unable to move, and she suddenly understood why the group had been unable to do anything; it was like when you froze in fear, only it doesn't end. She thought her heart was going to explode as the girl tilted her head, only making it worse. Then it suddenly ended, making Jane fall on her butt, panting as if she ran a mile. The little girl giggled and turned around, simply skipping away as if she was late for school. Jane watched her until she disappeared around a building, and then realized she had been holding her breath. She breathed out, almost not believing what she just saw.

"What the fuck was that?" She heard Clint say. She turned, seeing him holding his chest, leaning against the building, panting and sweating just like her. She slowly got back to her feet, shaking slightly. She couldn't speak yet; she was still feeling traces of that endless fear. She didn't know what it was, but she hoped she never saw it again.

"I suggest we don't wait for her to come back; let's get the hell out of here." Clint said, shivering. She couldn't have agreed more. As they were walking away, she heard Clint say, "It looks like we now have more than just the Darkspawn to worry about."

.

.

"May I ask a question?" Kasey asked him shyly, making him look at her with an eyebrow raised. It has been almost a week, and he was pretty sure they were almost to the bridge he was looking for. He planned on crossing it, getting to the other side of the lake. It was a risk in itself; it was easy to ambush someone on a bridge. Get people on both sides of it, and their was no where to run. But it was easier to him then crossing the entire lake with a boat. Kasey had been quiet most of the way, telling him her name and not much else. It didn't bother him at all; he wasn't much of a talker anyway.

"Go ahead." He said, not knowing why she asked; this wasn't high school. She hesitated, and for a second he thought she wasn't going to ask. But she gathered up her courage and said, "Why are we going around the lake? Wouldn't it be easier to cross the lake, and faster?"

He was wondering when she was going to ask that. "Yes it would, but let me ask you a question; this entire time, have you seen a boat to use?"

She opened her mouth to respond, then stopped herself, thinking about it. They continued walking, and after awhile he saw her shake her head.

"Exactly. I don't know about you, but I can't swim the entire lake. So this is our only option."

She nodded, having her question answered. They walked for 10 minutes in an awkward silence, and then Steven couldn't handle it anymore. "You know, you don't have to be silent. We can talk if you want. I know you must have a few questions you want to ask."

She didn't respond right away. They walked for a few more minutes before she finally asked, "So…your last name is Hawke. Are you descended from THE Hawke?"

A very common question for him. "Yes, I am descended from the Champion of Kirkwall."

She was quiet for a few seconds, then said, "That's surprising. I thought you would be more…"

He stopped, giving her a look. "More what, woman?"

She responded faster this time, becoming more confident. "Well…more heroic. Like a knight I guess."

He raised an eyebrow. "And what do I seem like?"

She looked away, blushing a bit, and said, "Well…you seem kind of like an asshole."

He laughed, making her jump in surprise. "You described me perfectly. See, that wasn't so hard." He shook his head, still chuckling. "You can speak your mind. I don't bite."

This time she raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure?"

He grinned at her, surprising her again; he didn't smile often. "Positive. Unless you want me to." With that he walked off, leaving her to ponder the meaning of his words."

.

He sighed in relief when they finally came in sight of the bridge. It was a few hours later, and the sun was starting to set. They had been walking for hours straight with no breaks, and his feet were starting to hurt. For once, he was thinking of calling it a night early as they approached the bridge. He looked in all directions, seeing nothing. Normally he would be thrilled about this, but he also didn't see any animals; he didn't see anything for that matter. The Darkspawn hadn't reached this far yet, so there should be some signs of life, especially with the lack of people, but it was an empty silence. He couldn't explain it, but he had a bad feeling deep in his gut, and he usually listened to them. He debated not crossing the bridge until the next day, but found it foolish; they had some daylight left, and he was going to use it.

He started walking across the bridge, his feet tapping against the wood. He heard Kasey following him as he kept looking around, trying to find any signs of anyone hidden on the opposite shore. About halfway he decided they would run into no trouble, and increased his pace, hearing a groan of complaint from Kasey. The bridge was sturdy and didn't move at all, which was a relief.

Right as he stepped off of the bridge, instead of feeling better, his bad feeling grew worse; it was getting the feeling of someone watching you times 10. He looked around; they were in a clearing, very open with no buildings, just the road leading onward. As he swept his vision across the clearing, he spotted a figure sitting in the grass. The sun had set until it was nearly behind the horizon, and the figure was cast in shadows; he couldn't see anything defining. He was going to forget about it and walk on, but Kasey saw it as well. "Do you see that Steven? I think someone is there."

"Ya, I see them. What of it?"

"Well…they could be hurt or something. Shouldn't we go and check?"

He looked at her. "If they were hurt, they would have called out to us by now. Leave them be."

But to his surprise she put a defiant look on her face. _Oh here we go._ "Well, I'm going to go see if they are ok." She said, and walked off. He gaped at her, wondering where she got the sudden burst of courage from. _I almost miss when she was shy and listened._ He sighed, following her.

As they got closer, he could see more defining features; it looked like a girl, or a boy with long hair. But as they got closer, his bad feeling grew worse, until it felt like his stomach was hurting. When they were about 10 feet away, He suddenly felt like he was in trouble; his fight or flight response was kicking in, and he didn't like it.

"Kasey, stop." He said, wondering why she wasn't feeling it as well; he pushed it off as a Hawke thing. She turned towards him. "But we are almost there. Why should I-"

"Stop, and don't move." He said in his soldier's voice. She noticed it, stopping, but kept giving him that defiant look. He walked forward until he was between Kasey and the girl and yelled out, "Hey, are you ok?"

The girl slowly looked up, opening her eyes, and he felt his blood go cold; her eyes were fucking blood red, and when she smiled he saw her teeth were sharp like a wolfs. He raised his shotgun, prepared to defend himself, when he felt a great terror grab him; he felt fear he had never felt before grasp him like a hand around his heart. He froze, confused as to why he was feeling this, then he started to get angry. _Why am I feeling afraid of this little girl? I'm not afraid of anything._ He felt his anger grow until it rivaled the fear, making his blood boil instead, and he broke free of the fears grasp, staggering forward. He glared at the girl, who had stood up, her smile growing even wider.

"Kasey, I want you to get away from here." He said, but when he turned to look at her, she was just standing there, shaking and looking like she was seeing her deepest fear. "She can't move." An innocent voice hit his ear, making him slowly turn back to the girl.

"You are interesting; you should be frozen with fear as she is. Yet instead you glare at me in anger." The small girl said, staying exactly where she was. He continued glaring at her, the barrel of his gun aimed right at her. "How did you break free?" She asked, tilting her head, which would have been cute if it wasn't for the creepy smile.

"There was nothing to break free from; I fear nothing." He said, glaring right into her red eyes. He didn't understand what she was, but that didn't mean he had to fear her. She laughed as if he said something funny. "Really? You are an interesting human." She said, repeating what she said.

"What do you want? Release my friend." He demanded, putting his finger onto the trigger of his gun. The girl giggled, ignoring him completely and saying "Lets have some fun." She raised her hand, and his eyes grew wide as her hand started to glow.

He reacted quickly, jumping back and pulling Kasey to the ground as a light erupted form her hand, shooting straight towards him. He felt it pass over his head, and felt the heat from it as it passed. In an instant he was on his feet again, aiming at her, but her hand glowed again, and he dodged to the side, barely avoiding another fire bolt from her hand. He raised his gun again, but again she shot, and he had to dodge again. He was getting aggravated, not finding any gaps for him to fire his gun. Finally, after dodging another one, he roared, running straight at her.

She aimed at him and shot again, but instead of dodging to the side, he slid down, sliding under the fire bolt. He swung his gun up, sure that he would get her this time, but his hopes were dashed when her hand came up, catching his gun before it got to her. He tried to push it, but it didn't budge; this girl was a lot stronger and faster than she looked.

He looked up at her, the girl smiling as she had him completely at her mercy. She raised her glowing hand, putting it about a foot away from his face, close enough for him to feel the heat from it. He waited for her to end it, and then the heat suddenly stopped. She lowered her hand, still smiling.

"You are very interesting. No human has lasted this long without dying. For that, I think I will let you live this time." She said, letting go of the barrel of his gun and turning away from him. He had never felt more confused in his life; he had been defeated by this young woman, and was allowed to live? He felt angry again, and as she was walking away yelled "What the fuck? That's it?"

She turned back to him, and her only response was to giggle as she walked away. He got up, debating whether to shoot her from behind, and decided that it probably wouldn't work; she wouldn't turn her back to him so easily if she didn't feel confident that he couldn't kill her. He spit as she disappeared from his sight, pissed that he had been totally defeated and confused at all that had happened. He turned and started walking back to Kasey, who was sitting in the grass, panting and sweating.

"You alright?" He asked as he got close to her, holding his hand out and helping her up. She was still shaking, but she slowly nodded. "Ya, I think so. What…was that?"

He looked back at where the girl had been, shaking his head. "I have no idea, but next time we meet, I'll kill her." Then he glared at her.

"You just had to check, huh."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Shit Happens

Steve heard Kasey yawn as they walked; he ignored it as the moonlight kissed their skin and heard the crickets sing their song. It was a few days later, and it was a beautiful night, with a full moon out, making everything glow with an unearthly beauty. He had always loved the night more than the day; it was more peaceful and almost made him forget about all of his problems. Kasey had noticed it early on, and chose to talk to him at night; she said he was less grumpy. "Steven…are your parents still alive?" She asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

He looked at her, realizing she didn't know that she was touching a sore subject for him. "No, they died before all of this."

She nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. What were they like?"

He didn't answer right away, going through memories in his head. "My dad was a soldier like me, but he devoted his whole life to the military. When he was around 45 he took a bullet to the head. He lived, amazingly; the man was a tough old bastard. But he had permanent brain damage, and needed help living after that. My mother…" He stopped talking, annoyed at himself for doing it. She noticed his hesitation and said, "You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to."

He stopped, making her nearly bump into him, and looked at her. "No, I will. I was always told that I needed to talk about it, but I was always too stubborn. It's the end of the world; I think I can get over myself and tell someone finally."

She looked at him and nodded, all ears. He sighed, and continued. "My mother…was a terrible mother to put it short. Even before my fathers injury she was stuck up, always needing things her way and was very commanding. To this day I still don't know how my father even put up with her, let alone married her and had me. After his injury, she took complete control, making him a prisoner in his own house. Me and her…didn't get along. I was a troublesome child, and she didn't like it." He paused, seeing that Kasey was still listening intently, and continued.

"It started off with just beatings; she wasn't very strong, but knew how to use anything near her as a weapon, and also knew how to hit me where it wouldn't show. That wasn't so bad; my old man was raised the same way. But instead of getting better, I got worse, getting into fights at school, stealing, everything. The worse I got…the worse she got. I guess she thought if she made the punishments more severe, that I would get too scared to misbehave. Had the opposite effect really."

He then did something he rarely did; he took his jacket off and slowly pulled his shirt off. Kasey started blushing, objecting at first, but when she saw the reason why she just gasped, eyes growing wide.

The moonlight showed everything; every scar, every burn, all the injuries upon his skin, running along and across his muscles. "After the beatings came the burning; small burns at first, but it got worse, to where she would heat up anything metal and press it against my skin. When that didn't work, she went to cutting; same as the burning, small at first, but steadily getting longer and deeper." He pointed to a very long scar, going from his right collar bone down to his left pec, stopping just above his nipple. "This was the last one she did. I had gotten older, and had fought my teacher. She took my fathers sword off the wall and swung it at me, causing this. This was the last straw for me; I took it from her and struck her, breaking her nose. I then made it clear if she ever tried to harm me again, I would kill her." He looked at the ground, remembering it as if it was yesterday; his mother pulling the sword out of the sheath and slowly approaching him, slashing at him. "She passed away not long after that; something about a brain hemorrhage. My father wasn't able to care for me, so I was out in a foster home until I joined the military."

It was silent for what felt like forever, but it was probably only a few minutes. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, seeing that the hand belonged to Kasey, whose eyes were filled with sadness and had tears at the corners of them. "I'm so sorry Steven. No child should have to go through that."

Before all of this, he would have pushed her hand away and told her not to worry about him. But she had caught him at a moment of weakness, and he actually didn't mind it. He looked at her, trying to think of what to say. The moonlight was hitting her from the side, making it seem like half of her body was glowing; she was beautiful now that he actually looked at her. He looked away, not knowing what was wrong with him. "It's fine. Everyone goes through some kind of struggle; I made it past it, becoming stronger in the process."

They stood there like that for a few more seconds, then she withdrew her hand, and he noticed that she was blushing again. "Alright, now that we are past that, could you put your shirt back on?"

He looked down, having forgotten about his chest being bare, and grinned slightly. "Nah, it feels good out tonight; the breeze feels amazing on my scars. I think I'll continue like this for the rest of the night."

She blushed deeper, trying her best to avert her eyes anywhere but at him. "Well, if that's what you want, but-"Then she stopped, squinting as if trying to see something better, then he saw fear cross her face. He followed her gaze until he saw what she was looking at. _Ah Shit._

About 100 yards away from them was a pack of Darkspawn; He counted 10. They were standing there, their dark eyes staring at the 2 humans talking in the forest. They must have crept up on them while they were talking. He cursed himself for being so nonobservant.

"What-what are they waiting for?" He heard Kasey say, hearing the fear in her voice. He knew she wasn't going to like the answer. "They are waiting to see if we will run, or try to fight them. The instant we move, so will they." He mulled it over, trying to decide what to do. Running was pointless; Darkspawn will chase their prey down without tiring, using their sharp sense of smell to follow someone even if they lose them. But 2 against 10 wasn't very fair, and Kasey was not only scared, but her aim with her pistol was average at best. He would basically be fighting them all by himself, and even though he was a soldier, he didn't like the odds against him.

"What do you want to do? Try to outrun them, or try to kill them; either way is difficult." He asked her. He saw her hesitating, probably surprised he asked her, then she looked him in the eye and he almost smiled; her eyes were burning with confidence. "If those are our only 2 options, I choose to fight. If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be fighting then running scared."

He nodded, needing no words; she listened to his words on their first encounter. He saw her pull her pistol out, and he followed her lead, cocking his shotgun. He liked her statement; he would always rather die fighting. The darkspawn saw this, getting excited and roaring, charging at them.

"Aim at their chests! The armor isn't very strong, but they are durable; if you don't get a clean headshot, they will only get pissed." He advised her, slowly jogging to meet them. Unlike her, he had a shotgun, so he had to get closer. He heard a few loud bangs, seeing bullets fly past him. The first couple missed completely, but he saw the next 2 hit one of the Darkspawn dead in the chest, making it collapse to the ground. _One down._

He got within range and raised his shotgun, firing it with a loud bang. He saw it hit a few of them, one of them dropping their sword as the lead tore its arm apart. He quickly cocked again, firing fast, and he saw another one drop as the pellets tore its face apart. They were only 10 feet away now; he cocked his gun again, and just as the Darkspawn closest to him was about to swing its sword, Steven fired again, the full force of the shot hitting it and sending it back, falling to the ground dead.

The next one was on him before he could fire, swinging its sword at him. Steven ducked underneath it, popping back up and slamming the butt of his gun into its ugly face, making it stumble backwards and fall. He fired at it, killing it before it could stand again. He heard more bangs, and saw another one fall; he was glad her aim had improved at least.

The remaining 5 got smart, surrounding him and charging him 2 at a time. He fired, killing one instantly, taking the top half of its head off. The other one roared, tackling him to the ground. Steven reacted fast; the instant he hit the ground he rolled, avoiding its sword as it hit the ground where he was a second ago. Still on the ground, he aimed his gun, putting it against the Darkspawns head and firing, seeing its head splatter into brain matter and getting hit in the face with some of it.

He got to his feet, seeing another charge at him, just to be taken down by Kasey's bullets. He swung around, catching one trying to hit him from behind and firing, the force driving it backwards and onto the ground.

He turned just in time to see the last one swing its sword at him. Having no time to dodge it, he raised his shotgun up, catching the blade before it could reach him. Before he could counter, the Darkspawn roared, pushing his shotgun to the side and shouldering him in the chest. He hit the grass, trying to get back up, but felt pain as the Darkspawn stomped onto his chest, forcing him back down. It raised its sword for the killing blow.

It never got to swing, as Kasey pressed her pistol against its head and fired, sending blood and brains out the other side of it as it fell to the ground, lifeless. Steven looked at her panting, as she extended a hand to help him up. When he was back to his feet he kept looking at her, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" She said, smiling. "I wanted to make sure I didn't miss."

.

.

"So, Clint, when did you find out you were a mage?" Jane asked to break the silence as they walked, the sun barely in the sky. She had always loved the sunrise; it was beautiful and made her feel like every day was going to be a good day. They were at to Lake Calenhad, and she was looking for a boat to go towards the island in the middle, which used to have a Circle of Magi on it, but had long been removed and replaced by the Ferelden Blight Research Center. Finding a boat was easier said than done at the moment; anyone with a boat either used it to cross the lake or destroyed it so it couldn't be used to get to the research center. Either way, they needed one and they weren't finding any.

Clint grunted. "When my parents took me to the edge of the woods, knocked me out, and left me to die."

She just gaped, not really sure how to respond to that, and said, "I'm…really sorry to hear that."

He shrugged. "No reason to be. It's not your fault. Humans will be humans. They consider mages an unknown, and anything humans don't understand, they fear. It's ignorant, but there isn't much I nor anyone can do about it."

She nodded; it was the truth. Humans did tend to fear what they didn't understand, and usually treat what they fear with hostility. She looked around sighing when she didn't see a boat in sight. She never had much faith in humanity; while there were always exceptions, most people only cared about themselves. People act all kind and caring, but the Blight is a perfect example of how fake that is. The instant the armies were crushed by the Darkspawn, everyone turned on each other, killing people that were their neighbors the day before for some food or ammo. All of their acting fell away, and their true natures showed.

She did her best not to be like that; she never killed unless it was necessary, never stole, rarely lied, and never used people. It didn't mean she trusted everyone; she just trusted herself. She was so lost in her thoughts that she walked past a building and almost didn't notice a boat leaning against it. She stopped quickly and turned around, a smile forming as she saw the boat.

"Finally!" She exclaimed, walking towards the boat. She examined it, and her hopes were dashed when she saw it had a hole in it. She dropped it, sighing heavily. Clint, who had been quiet the entire time, went and saw what made her mad. She watched as he went around, searching for something. She had no idea what he was doing, so she simply watched as he searched the area around them until he smiled and walked back to the boat, holding a piece of wood.

"What's that for?" She asked. Instead of answering, he pressed the piece of wood over the hole. He closed his eyes, and she held her breath, waiting to see what would happen. His hands began to glow, and before her eyes she saw the piece of wood seem to meld with the boat. It took about two minutes, but when he opened his eyes and removed his hands, the hole in the boat was gone. She was amazed; she could even see that the wood was a different color where the hole was, just like the wood he used.

"That's amazing!" She said, beaming at him. He smiled back, blushing a little. "It's very simple magic. A child could do this if they were trained right. Most people assume magic is only destructive. That's not true; magic can be used for almost anything. Unlike us, magic is very versatile, and in the right hands, it can be used for amazing things."

She nodded, agreeing. "I'm sorry that more people can't see that. I've only studied magic used by the Darkspawn, and most of it is used for destruction."

He nodded back. "That is also true. It can be the most destructive force on the planet, and that's one of the only uses the Darkspawn need for it." He gave her a questioning look. "So you studied the Darkspawn?"

"Technically, the blight, but since it consist of Darkspawn, yes I guess I have."

He grabbed the boat and she joined him, lifting it up and carrying it towards the water. "So you're, like, and expert on them?"

"Not really an expert." She answered, setting it down close to the water. "But I do know more than most people, yes."

"Really? Enlighten me then."

"Where to begin?" She said, sitting down next to the boat, Clint sitting next to her. "Well, Darkspawn have the mentality more like a bee; they don't really think for themselves. When they corrupt what we call an 'Old God', it turns into an arch demon, which then gives them commands telepathically."

"Really? It basically controls all of them?" Clint asks, seeming interested. Whether he actually was or not didn't matter; she loved explaining what she had learned.

"Yes and no." She said, getting into her explanation. "It basically has a small control over all of them, unifying them in a way that they would never do on their own. But it doesn't control every single Darkspawn; for example, the Darkspawn that decide to break off with the main horde and go ahead. It didn't tell them to specifically do that; the arch demon just gave them all a basic command, and they all followed it in their own way. More like a goal."

Clint nodded slowly, understanding. "There is something I don't understand though." She said.

He looked at her. "Well? What is it?"

He at least seemed very interested. "Every blight before, the Darkspawn just came up in a big horde and started attacking. Their was no discipline, no order; just a huge army of them killing everything. This time was different."

"How so?"

"Well, for one, they didn't attack with the bulk of their army. When the Orlisians joined the Ferelden army, they attacked with half of their army, then somehow got the other half behind the human army and attacked from both sides. That shows tactics, and greater thinking then they have ever done before. For two, we haven't seen an arch demon yet, and they usually show themselves by now."

Clint looked troubled by this. "So what does this mean?"

"Well, there are a few possibilities." She answered, getting excited without realizing it. She had always been a nerd, and it always made her dad laugh. "One possibility is that this arch demon is somehow smarter, or has more control over the horde. But I don't think this is the cause; a smarter arch demon would have shown itself by now, among other things. Another possibility, and the one I'm going with, is that they are getting assistance from something else. Whether it is an ancient power that hates humans, or some creature with intelligence; whatever the case, they are getting major help, and it gave them the complete advantage over us. The last possibility, and the least likely, is that the Darkspawn simply got smarter on their own, and came up with the tactic on their own."

"Why is that the least likely?" Clint asked, absorbing every word she said like a sponge.

"Well, they have had thousands of years to gain intelligence. This isn't the first blight. Out of all that time, now they suddenly get smart? It wouldn't happen this fast. It's just unlikely…on their own, anyway."

"Well, you do seem to know your stuff." Clint said, standing up. "The sun will be setting soon. We should get going, so we can get there by nightfall."

She stood up as well, confused. "But don't we need a paddle first?"

Clint smiled at her, pulling the boat into the water. "Not at all."

Curious, she got in the boat with him. He stuck his hand in the water, and it started glowing. Without warning, the boat surged forward, throwing her back into his lap. She regained her composure and position, blushing the entire time while he was laughing.

"Will you ever cease to amaze me?" She asked, after her blush went away.

Clint smiled. "I sure hope not."

.

They got to the island about half an hour later. While effective, moving the boat drained Clint's energy greatly, and he was pale and panting when they finally stopped. She set him down on the shore, pulling the boat up by herself.

"Are you alright?" She asked when she was done, turning towards him. He sat up, giving her a weak smile. "I'll be fine. I just need to rest a bit; why don't you go on inside and look around? Hopefully some people are still here."

She nodded, heading towards the only building on the island. What she didn't tell him was that if there were scientist on the island, they would have sent someone to investigate by now. Scientist were curious people, and wouldn't be able to help themselves. Nonetheless, she walked over to the doors of the research center. The sun was just starting to set, casting long shadows everywhere. She pushed on the door, which opened easily enough, but she quickly noticed that no lights were on. She went inside and looked around.

There wasn't anyone in sight. The place was a mess, like everyone got up in a hurry and left. She felt for a light switch, found one, and flicked it up. Nothing happened, so she assumed that the electricity was out. That was strange; this place was on an island, isolated from the rest of Ferelden. They had their own source of electricity. Why would they abandon this place? It was one of the safest places to be in her opinion.

She took a few steps into the building, and got a horrible feeling suddenly, like something was wrong. She didn't like it; she turned around to leave, and gasped when she saw two Darkspawn in front of the door. She shouldered her rifle, and was horrified as she saw more Darkspawn coming out of the shadows, coming out of the rooms, slowly surrounding her.

 _This is very wrong._ She thought to herself. Darkspawn didn't do things like this. They would have ran her the instant they saw her, or wait to see if she would run; they certainly wouldn't set up an ambush like this, or stand their and surround her without a word. It was somehow even creepier than what they normally did.

"Well, what have we here?" A voice called out. She turned around, rifle still raised, and almost dropped it when she saw a man standing among the Darkspawn, smiling at her. He had blue eyes, with glasses and thinning brown hair. And he looked like he hadn't eaten enough for a week.

 _This is wrong this is wrong this is wrong._ Her mind was going a mile a minute. Darkspawn never worked with humans; they were enemies, always have been. No human has ever successfully worked with Darkspawn. It just didn't happen.

"What might you be doing here young lady?" The man said, smiling as if everything was perfectly normal.

"I-I could ask you the same!" Jane stammered, eyes franticly searching for a way out and seeing none. She was completely surrounded. _Why are they not attacking!_

"Me? I'm here looking for certain research." He said, his smile looking creepier by the second. He stepped forward. The Darkspawn remained motionless; if she didn't know better, she would think they were ugly statues.

"Now see, you are in a bad situation." He said, getting closer. She instinctively started backing away, not knowing what to do. "You are surrounded by Darkspawn in a place you shouldn't be. Now that you've seen us, you should know by now I can't let you leave."

She didn't answer, and his smile only grew wider. He slowly turned away and walked back to the circle of Darkspawn. To her amazement, they got out of the way for him. When he passed them, he said two words that made her blood run cold.

"Get her."

And, as if a switched had been flipped in their heads, they rushed at her, and she screamed and fired until they overwhelmed her.

.

.

Steven saw them awhile ago. He did his best not to tell Kasey at first, but as they kept following them, he grew more worried and finally let it out.

"Kasey, don't look behind you after I say this, but we are being followed by a big pack of Darkspawn right now." She stopped and turned her head, seeing them. He grabbed her arm and kept her moving.

"Didn't I say don't turn around?" He growled, letting go of her arm and shouldering his gun.

"How long have they been following us?" She asked, pulling out her pistol and looking scared. She should be; there had to be at least 45 of them, maybe more.

 _Something's wrong._ Darkspawn didn't just stalk people; they should have started charging them by now, chasing them down. "About an hour now."

Her eyes grew wide with fear. "An hour? What are they waiting for?"

He had no answer for her. He had no idea why they were just following them. It wasn't right. The road went left, and as they past some trees they stopped dead in their tracks. There were about 20 more Darkspawn ahead of them, as well as the girl they had ran into earlier leading them, smiling that creepy smile.

 _This is bad._ They had Darkspawn in the front, and behind them. There were way too many to fight, and they would most likely get chased down and slaughtered if they ran.

 _Is this how it ends?_ After everything, was he going to die by these odd acting Darkspawn, not even able to protect the one person that was with him? He was an embarrassment to the Hawke legacy. He grew angry, but knew it didn't matter how mad he got; he couldn't shoot his way out of this one.

The girl stepped forward. Unlike last time, he noticed she was in armor, with some mean looking gauntlets with claws on them. "Hello again." She smiled wider, showing her razor sharp teeth.

"Fuck you." Was all he had to say, aiming his gun at her. If he was going to die, he would make sure to take her with him. The little girl giggled, as if what he said was cute. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves! You are fortunate; I was told to bring you two in alive."

Now he was angry and confused. "Bring us in? Alive? What the hell are you on about?" He said, never taking his eyes off of her. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't miss.

"It's not my place to say. Just put down your weapons and I promise we won't kill you." She ended this with a little bow, mocking him and smiling at the same time. He didn't really see any way out of this. "If you try anything, I'll blow your brains out bitch." He said, lowering his gun. She just laughed in response, and pointed back the way they came, towards Lake Calenhad. They started walking back, surrounded by tame Darkspawn and a demonic girl.

Where ever they were going, he knew he wasn't going to like it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Nothing Makes Sense Anymore

Jane woke up to her head throbbing in pain, as if someone inside her skull was banging on the walls with a hammer. She realized she was on the ground and groaned, attempting to sit up. It was then that she also realized her hands were tied behind her back. She slowly sat up, which was much more difficult without the use of your hands, and opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings.

She was in the same room before she was attacked, the main room of the research center. The Darkspawn weren't attempting to hide anymore, and she was amazed by the number of them; they were everywhere, standing against walls, sitting in the chairs, even sitting on the floor, grunting and making noises at each other. They were still acting different; Darkspawn didn't really take prisoners. But they weren't just standing there, staring at her, and she was thankful for that.

She looked to her right and saw Clint next to her, in the same situation she was. He smiled at her; he didn't look worse for wear, so she was guessing that he was too tired to resist and came along without a fight. "I'm sorry Clint." She said, looking down at the ground. "This is my fault. If we hadn't come here, we wouldn't be in this weird situation."

To her surprise, he chuckled. "Not necessarily." Instead of explaining to her, he nodded is head across the room to her left. She followed him with her confused gaze and saw two more people, hands tied behind their backs just like hers was.

The girl was tiny, with medium length blond hair and bright blue eyes. She looked scared, and Jane couldn't blame her. The man next to her, on the other hand, was a different story. He was tall and built, with a military style haircut. He had brown hair and brown eyes to match. Unlike the girl next to him, he looked pissed, and his head was split above his left eye, indicating that he put up a struggle.

"Who are they?" Jane asked, looking back at Clint. The man looked familiar somehow, but she didn't recognize the girl at all.

He shrugged. "No idea. They came in about 20 minutes after I was taken here. Then the creepy little girl, who came with them, told them they had to give up their guns. The big guy didn't agree, and took down 4 Darkspawn before the creepy girl knocked him clean out. He woke up just a few minutes before you did, and man did he look pissed."

Jane was impressed; surrounded by Darkspawn and he managed to take four down before that girl got him. She looked around until she found the girl, who was wearing armor now, and even had a cruel looking sword at her hip. She looked at the man and sure enough, it was the creepy girl he was glaring at. _He does not like her_

She was even more impressed; even the brief time she saw the girl before, she was filled with nothing but fear. Even now, the presence of the girl made her feel like things were even more hopeless than before. Yet this man showed no fear, only blunt rage. But anger wouldn't get them out of this. She was curious as to why they were brought here; Clint and she came on their own will, but these two seemed to be brought here against their wills.

 _Or did I come here of my own will?_ Now that she thought about it, it did seem odd that there happened to be one boat, in plain view, with minimal damage to it. There wasn't a single boat before, and she bet her gun that they wouldn't find a boat anywhere else.

 _But why?_ It was a good question. What did the creepy girl and even creepier skinny guy want with them? She was just trying to find her dad…

Then it hit her; the research she was looking for. She came here looking for research on a weapon that the scientists were trying to make to combat the Darkspawn. But how would they know about that? It wasn't exactly common knowledge, and not many people would sell out their race to the Darkspawn.

 _That one guy did._ The guy that the Darkspawn listened to; was he a scientist? Did he not only join their side somehow, but give them humanities last hope against the blight?

As if he knew what she thinking, the man appearing, coming out of one of the back rooms. He was smiling, so he must have found what he was looking for. He snapped his fingers, and she felt rough hands grab her shoulders, forcing her up. They pushed her in front of the scientist and forced her down. She heard Clint be pushed down next to her, as well as the angry man and small woman. The angry man focused his glare from the creepy girl to the creepy guy now.

"Who the fuck are you? Are you working with these creatures?" He said, the fire in his eyes never leaving. She just gawked at him; tied up, surrounded by Darkspawn, and this man just didn't seem worried at all. He was either very brave, or very stupid.

"Let's not be hasty! All in due time Hawke." The man said, grinning. Jane looked at him again, and it finally clicked who he was; He was Steven Hawke. His ancestor was the legendary Garret Hawke, and he was a big thing in the military. Her dad even mentioned him a few times to her, even joked about trying to hook them up.

"How the hell do you know who I am? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!" Steven roared, trying to stand up, but he received a solid smack with the flat of a sword against his back for it, forcing him back on his knees; it just made him look more pissed. Then, to her surprise, he closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and reopened them, his anger completely gone. _I'll have to have him teach me that._

"First, I should get introductions out of the way." The creepy man said, not fazed by any of this. He pointed to himself. "My name is Marlin Jerin. I am-"

"I know who you are." Steven spoke up, making everyone look at him; she did notice that Marlins grin flickered for a second, as if he didn't like being interrupted.

"You were a scientist for the military. Supposedly a smart guy, they dropped your ass when they found out you were combining human and Darkspawn DNA, trying to create monsters."

Marlin bowed. "Not very eloquent, but correct. The Ferelden military told me to find a way to make their soldiers better, but when I did, they spit on my efforts and pulled my funding. So, I went over to some people who…appreciated my service a bit more."

"Impossible." Jane said, speaking up and making all eyes turn on her. Normally she would have been embarrassed, but her curiosity over rode her embarrassment. "Darkspawn don't work with humans. We are enemies, always have been."

Marlin smiled. "Yes, you were studying the blight, so you would know these things, right Jane MCcarthy. Normally you would be correct."

"MCcarthy?" She heard Steven say, grabbing her attention. "As in the daughter of Greg MCcarthy?"

"Yes." She answered, surprised. "You knew my father?"

"Hard not to know Greg if your in the Ferelden military. The mans a damn good leader, and a hard bastard at that. I can see how you survived this long; you didn't join the military, so he must have taught you himself."

She nodded. "Aww, it's nice that humans actually remember people that have nothing to with them." Marlin said, still smiling. He turned around. "Now, Jane, let me show you how it is possible that a mere human like me could work with the Darkspawn."

Marlin moved aside, and one of the biggest Darkspawn she had ever seen walked forward, He towered over her, having to be at least seven feet or taller. He was massive, nothing but muscle and armor. Unlike the other Darkspawn, his armor looked newer, and much thicker, as if it could even block bullets. He slowly slid off his helmet, which was made to go around the huge horns on his head. Once off, she could see his face; like most Darkspawn, dead grey skin, with black eyes and long sharp teeth. None of this surprised her; it was what happened next that surprised her.

" _ **Hello little human.**_ _"_ The creature said. Its voice sounded horrible, like sandpaper being scraped against sandpaper, but it actually spoke to her, said actual words.

 _I was wrong._ Her least likely theory, that they gained intelligence, was just proven false. No Darkspawn had ever spoken before, or shown that they had the intelligence to even understand their language, yet this one has, and even knows what humans call themselves.

"Tell her your name." Marlin said, his grin so wide it looked fake. The creature smiled as well, looking like it was going to bite her face off.

" _ **My name is Hak.**_ " Hak said, leaning down and getting right in her face, grossing her out in every way possible. His breath smelled like road kill, and he was drooling. " _ **It was my plan to flank your pathetic army and crush them; my idea to strike after the last poser fell. My idea to take in this human and let him do tests on other humans. I am Hak, and I am going to crush your race like the insects they are."**_ He laughed, one of the most horrible sounds she has ever heard, and stood up, facing Marlin. She couldn't believe what just happened; a Darkspawn had just spoken clearly. It was the worst thing she could think of, a Darkspawn with intelligence matching humans. As long as he was in charge, humans would lose.

" _ **I do not care what you do to them, Mar, as long as they do not leave this place alive. I do not want them interfering.**_ " She heard Hak say, and her blood ran cold once again. They were going to kill them.

Marlin nodded. "Don't worry; I have a great experiment for them. They will not survive, I assure you. Move your forces to Denerim. Once it falls, the rest of humanity will shortly follow."

Hak grunted in response, and headed towards the door. She jumped as all of the Darkspawn moved at once, following Hak out the door. Two minutes later it was just them, Marlin, and the creepy girl.

"Ferelda, would you kindly go and retrieve our final guest for the night." Marlin said. Ferelda, the creepy girl, didn't say a word, only moved and opened the door. She put her fingers to her lips and blew a long whistle.

It was at this moment that Steven made his move.

.

.

The entire time Marlin and Hak were chatting with the girl named Jane, Steven had been slowly and carefully cutting the rope around his hands. They took his gun, but they didn't bother to search him, and he had three knives hidden on his person; a small one in his boot, a pocket knife in his pocket, and a combat knife hidden in his jacket. When he was sure all eyes were on Jane, he pulled the small one out of his boot and started slowly cutting the rope. He thought he would be caught when Hak walked past him, and didn't even realize he was holding his breath until Hak passed him.

When the door closed behind the last Darkspawn, he cut through all of it, but didn't move; Ferelda had been sure to stand in front of him, knowing he was the biggest threat. When Marlin sent her to open the door, he bided his time a little longer, waiting for the perfect moment.

When he heard the whistle, he roared, shooting forward and hitting Marlin hard with his shoulder, knocking him completely off his feet and hearing the skinny man hit the ground hard. He then swung around, swinging the knife to throw at Ferelda, but he was a second too late; just before the knife left his hands, a huge purple hand of pure magic shot out of her hand, grabbing him as if he was a toy, stopping him. He struggled, but it was useless; he couldn't break the magic.

"Nice try, Hawke." She said, grinning. "But I have better hearing than you. The instant you moved, I-"

She never got to finish. Marlin had gotten up, and he walked over to her and slapped her hard, across the face. She looked at him, stunned.

"If your hearing is so good, why did you wait so long? What if, instead of throwing the knife at you, he decided to stab me instead? You were useless."

Ferelda didn't respond, but Steven could see her face; it was filled with anger. "I should have thought of that." He said, spitting.

Fereldas eyes whipped to him, and she closed the hand that was glowing. He felt the hand around him squeeze hard, crushing the air out of him so he couldn't even yell, only grunt. The pain was everywhere. Just as he thought his head would pop off, the pressure stopped, releasing him. He fell and hit the ground hard, coughing and trying to suck as much air as possible.

He felt weak, but he heard another whistle. He looked up just in time to see an ogre break through the doors, going through the wall as if it was made of paper. It roared, looking at them as if they were its next meal.

"Well, I'd love to stay and watch you get torn apart, but I have a lot of things to do, and not much time. Have fun!" With that he left, Ferelda following him.

 _This isn't good._ Steven reacted fast, finding the knife he dropped and picking it up. He cut through Jane's rope just as the ogre roared and started walking towards them.

"Cut through their ropes and find our weapons!" Steven said, putting the knife in her hands. "What are you going to do?" She asked.

He looked back and grinned. "Always wanted to fight an ogre." And charged at it, pulling the combat knife out of his jacket. He had no chance of winning by himself with a knife; Ogres are known for their thick skin and great strength. But if he could hold it off until they get their guns, they stood a chance.

It saw him running at it, took it as a challenge, and roared, lowering its head and charging faster. Steven yelled too, running straight at it. Just as it was about four feet away, he dived to the side, rolling when he hit the ground, evading it completely. It stopped faster than he thought it would though, turning and facing him within seconds.

 _Well, this sucks._ He stood up, not really knowing what to do. The only weak point he could find was its eyes, but not only was the damn thing over ten feet tall, but it also had huge horns and arms of pure muscle to keep him away. He debated throwing the knife, but if he missed then he would be completely defenseless, and that would only get him killed faster.

"Going faster would be nice!" He yelled, not knowing where they were or caring. The ogre ran at him, swinging its huge arm like a weapon. He jumped back, avoiding one arm, and jumped to the side, barely avoiding his second arm. He took a chance at that moment; he jumped onto its arm and ran up it, going straight for its eyes.

He got close too, but just as he was about to stab, he got hit by its free arm. It felt like getting hit by a car, sending him flying ten feet to hit the ground hard, feeling his nose break when he hit. He rolled over, attempting to get up; he had two broken ribs and the rest of his body hurt like hell. It didn't help that his nose was broken as well, making it hard to breath.

"Steven, catch!" He heard. He turned just in time to catch his shotgun, nodding at Kasey, who threw it.

 _This is more like it._ He felt much more confident taking an ogre on with his shotgun than with a knife. He heard gunshots and saw Jane firing at it with an automatic rifle. The bullets hit it, sinking into its flesh, making it roar in pain and rush at her.

Then he saw a fire ball hit it, exploding on impact and setting it on fire. Steven turned to see the guy that was next to Jane with his hand glowing. _A mage huh._ He didn't really care for mages either way, but he was sure glad to have one on his side right now.

The ogre stopped, the flames not seeming to faze him, and tried to decide which one to go after first. Steven saw this as a perfect opportunity, cocking his shotgun and firing at it, yelling, "Over here ya big bastard!"

It felt his shot and roared, confused. It most likely had never seen guns before, much less been shot by them. They all started firing at once, Kasey standing next to Jane and joining her, the mage shooting fireballs left and right, and Steven firing his shotgun. The ogre was being smart, covering its face and chest with its massive arms, but they were winning.

He had fired four shots when he pulled the trigger and only heard a clicking sound. "Shit." He said, checking and realizing he had no ammo left; he had loaded his gun with the rest of the ammo after Kasey and he took on those Darkspawn. As if the ogre sensed weakness, it suddenly charged at him, ignoring the others completely.

"Shit shit shit shit!" Steven said to himself, turning around to run. Without his gun, the ogre would easily kill him; he didn't even know if he could outrun it. _And to think, people used to kill these things with swords and spears._

He ran as fast as he could, but his ribs were screaming in pain, and he still felt weak from the blow he already took. He could hear it getting closer, and even felt the ground start to shake with each of its steps. He decided he couldn't outrun it and turned around, flipping the weapon to use it as a bat. It might be pathetic, but he was going to go down fighting, not running.

It was right in front of him. He yelled, raising the gun to swing, when he felt something hit him from the side, tackling him to the ground and making the ogre miss completely. He felt pain shoot from his ribs when he landed, but pain meant that he was still alive. He looked at who tackled him and was surprised to see it was Kasey.

"How did you catch up?" He said, hearing gunshots and the ogre roar behind them. She smiled. "Well, you couldn't see it, but you weren't running that fast. Luckily for you, I ran track in high school, and I'm pretty fast."

He chuckled, and then grimaced as his ribs hurt in response. He looked over and saw that the ogre was losing; It was almost completely on fire, and Jane had managed to hit one of it's' eyes. It swung at the mage, who easily evaded it, and Jane saw an opening; she fired the rest of her clip into its head. It staggered, somehow still alive, but the mage used both hands and sent the biggest fireball yet. It hit the ogre dead in the chest, knocking it to the ground, where it lay still.

He got up, with the help of Kasey, and saw that everyone was panting just as heavily as he was. The mage was panting a little heavier than the rest, but he still walked over to them. "How badly are you hurt?" He asked looking at Stevens's nose.

"A couple broken ribs and a broken nose, no big deal." Steven replied, trying not to look like he was in pain. The mage shook his head and stepped right up to Steven, placing his hand on Steven's ribs.

"What are you-"He started, but stopped as the mage's hand started glowing. His eyes grew wide as he the pain in his ribs slowly went away. Then the mage placed his hand on Steven's nose and repeated the process. The mage was pale and sweating by the time it was done, but all of Steven's bones were fixed.

"I fixed the bones. Your muscles will still be bruised, but that's the best I can do at the moment." The mage said, his voice sounding weak. Steven nodded and stepped forward, glad he didn't need help doing it. "I thank you. My name is Steven Hawke, though you probably already knew that." Steven held out his hand.

The mage hesitated for a second, and then took his hand, shaking it. "Mine's Clint. And you should probably know by now that I am a mage."

"Ya, I kind of noticed." Steven replied, grinning. "Good thing you are too. Our bullets didn't seem to be doing much against that ogre."

Clint didn't reply. Jane stepped forward and shook hands with Kasey, exchanging introductions. Then she turned to him. "I can't tell whether you are extremely brave, or just foolish. But your distraction probably saved our asses back there, so thank you."

She looked shaken up by the experience, but still managed to keep her cool and talk clearly. She was definitely Greg's daughter. "No need for thanks. I don't know how that man knew our names, or why they wanted us dead so badly, but what matters is that we are alive, and now know the secret behind why the Darkspawn are stomping us."

She nodded. "Hak. I've never seen anything like him." She stopped and look lost in thought for a few seconds, then her eyes grew wide. "The research!" And went running off into the building.

Steven looked at Clint, who said, "We came here because the people here apparently were working on a device that could kill Darkspawn."

 _Well that would be helpful._ Steven shrugged. "Well, whatever the case, we should follow. I can't imagine she has much ammo left, and we don't need anymore surprises today." He followed her, Kasey and Clint following behind. He kept his pace slow, because he knew how tired Clint was, and his whole body hurt, though he would never admit it.

They find her in one of the rooms in the back, frantically searching through everything. Steven stopped and looked around; for a room that could hold research into destroying humanities worst and oldest enemy, it looked very plain. Whether that was on purpose or not, he didn't notice any enemies, which was good. They badly needed some good luck.

"I'd help you look, if I knew what to look for." He said. She didn't even blink, just kept looking. Steven looked around again and noticed that there was a room with a door that was different than any door he had seen here so far.

"What's in that room?" He said, pointing towards the door. Jane looked up, followed his finger, and shrugged, going back to her search. He walked towards the door, trying the doorknob and finding it locked.

"Dammit!" He heard Jane yell, followed by the sound of her kicking a desk. "It's not here!"

"Maybe not, but this door is locked." He said, grabbing her attention. She looked at it, and then pulled out a key ring with about twenty keys on it.

"Maybe one of them works?" She said, looking hopeful. He looked at the keys, then back at the door. Without answering her, he stepped back and kicked the door, knocking it off of its hinges and walking into the room. "That works too I guess." He heard her say behind him.

Inside the room was something that made Steven grin; guns. The room was a small armory, filled with pistols, rifles, shotguns, anything you would need to defend this place. He heard a whistle as the others followed him inside.

"Your scientists were a smart lot." He said, going to a locker and opening it, almost cheering when he saw it was filled with ammo. He looked through it until he found what he was looking for; shotgun shells. They weren't buckshot like he usually used; they were the lead balls. Didn't matter to him; would still kill stuff easy enough. He looked around the room until he found a bag and started loading it up with the ammo.

"This makes no sense." He heard Jane said, but he wasn't paying much attention; what he saw was a chance at survival, and he jumped on it. He looked through the guns, and his smiled only grew wider; he found a semi-auto shotgun, instead of the pump-action he had. All you had to do was press the trigger. He dropped his and picked this new one up, loading it with as many shells as it would hold.

"What makes you say that Jane?" He heard Clint respond. Steven kept up with his search, finding a small submachine gun for Kasey and putting it in the bag as well, along with ammo for it. He was still looking around when he saw a small safe at the end. His curiosity at full throttle, he went towards it.

"If they had all of these weapons, why didn't they use them? I saw no sign of any real struggle so far, only evidence that they left in a hurry. Did they leave once everything went down, taking the research with them?" He pulled on the handle and the safe opened right away, showing that whoever used it last didn't lock it. He was almost shaking with anticipation, and it was replaced with disappointment when he saw only two things inside; a piece of paper and what looked like a key.

"This looks like something for you Jane." He said, leaving it there. If it wasn't a gun, or something that could kill Darkspawn, then he wasn't interested in it. Looking confused, Jane went passed him, picking up the paper and key. She looked at it while Steven finished by putting pistol ammo in the bag and zipping it up, more than happy to have found this. He heard Jane gasp, making him turn around.

"We are still in luck!" She said, looking at them and smiling. "When the last Grey Warden died, they moved the research to the station in Denerim, and this is one of the few keys that can unlock the safe there. Humanity still might have a chance!"

"That's amazing." Steven said, the only one not smiling like an idiot. "But Denerim is a good two month walk from here. If Hak and his army get there first, it won't matter if the research is there or not." He looked at Jane. "How do you know these scientists aren't already making this machine, if the research was even completed before shit hit the fan?"

She looked at the ground. "I don't. But this is our only chance that I know of, and I have to make sure they are at least trying to make it."

Steven nodded, understanding. If this was legit, then it was one of the only options humans had left. His plan was to flee to Orlais, and hopefully form another army either there or further on to combat the Darkspawn. But there was a reason this Marlin guy tried to kill Jane and him. If she was somehow important enough that they wanted to remove her from play, then it was the only reason he needed.

"Alright, I'll go with you." He said, making everyone look at him. "You will?" Jane said, looking surprised. Kasey looked just as surprised.

"Yes. If you think this is our last chance, it would be real stupid of me to let you go and die along the way. I'll help you get there; safest place in Ferelden at the moment anyway. And, since I have ties in the military, you'll have more of a chance of getting in. After they closed up their doors, they are real picky about who they open them up to."

She listened to what he had to say, and slowly nodded. "Well, it couldn't hurt to have you and Kasey along. Alright, you can come. Safety in numbers."

He nodded, but was surprised when Clint spoke up. "Are you sure Jane? We just met them…"

Jane gave him a questioning look. "Yes, but not only did they help us survive fighting that ogre, but Marlin also knew Steven. He knew both of us, and wanted both of us dead. I don't know why, but they consider us a threat, and I don't plan on letting them down."

Clint nodded, not looking happy about it but giving up. Steven didn't bother with the details about why he didn't want Steven along; most likely Clint liked Jane, and didn't want any competition. It didn't matter to Steven; he would have followed whether they liked it or not.

"Alright, stock up on whatever you can. We leave when you are finished Jane." Steven said. She nodded, and he left the room, Kasey following him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked surprising him. He chuckled. "A little sore is all. I'll be fine. And you?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Just heard a Darkspawn talk, saw a human working with them, and fought an ogre to the death. Besides that, I'm just fine."

He grinned. "And you're alive. That's all that matters."

She nodded, smiling back. He started towards the main room. Only one thing still bugged him; the safe. Who leaves a safe with the location of our last hope unlocked? But he let it go; it couldn't be too important.

He could not have been more wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Time for a Race

She slowly walked towards the camp of humans. Ferelda smiled as she went, but her emotions told a different story; all she could feel was rage, a bottomless pit of anger than never went dry. She continued walking, taking her time; she was not in a rush. The other times she had ran into humans, she was just goofing off, playing the innocent act to make them lower their guard.

This time she was different; she was in full armor, her sword hungering for blood at her hip. Her orders were to eradicate all humans in this encampment, and even if she wasn't ordered too, she would have slaughtered every single one of them. She had a lot of anger to take out on these poor bastards.

After they left the research center, she was punished for not stopping Hawke from hitting Marlin. She had to stand, tied to a pole, as Marlin took out his anger on her, hitting her chest and face until he grew tired, then he would leave her there for the night. He called it giving her time to think about what she had done.

She was used to this punishment, and her body had grown durable enough to where it did not even hurt anymore; it was the fact that he could do it and she could not do anything in return that angered her. He created her, but she hated him with every fiber of her being; she did not asked to be taken as a child, to be turned into a monster that only felt rage. And he could do whatever he wanted to her; if she were to retaliate, she would have the humans and Darkspawn against her, and even she couldn't take on the whole Darkspawn army. So she had to bear the beatings, bear the insults, survive the starving. It only added to her pool of hatred and anger.

So she took it out on her enemies, killing anyone who dared stand in her way. She finally reached the camp, boldly walking past two people who were on guard. They just stared at her while she walked, trying to process what they were seeing, then they raised their guns at her. "Stop! Who are you?"

She turned towards them slowly, smiling. Her hatred for everything boiled over; she raised her hand and focused, and an orb of magic shot out of it, faster than an arrow. It hit one of them dead in the chest; it then exploded, splashing the human next to him and anything else nearby with a corrosive liquid. The human got out one scream before his throat melted away, along with the rest of him, until he was nothing but a puddle on the ground.

That one scream alerted the other humans, who started grabbing their weapons and running over. She drew her sword, making a screeching sound as it exited her sheath, her smile only growing wider; this is all she was good at, this is what she lived for. When the first human came around the corner of a tent, she didn't even hesitate; she rushed him, moving at inhuman speed and catching him off guard. He never stood a chance as she sank her blade into his chest, pushing it all the way to the hilt. The human gurgled, blood pooling into his mouth, making her laugh as it dribbled out of his mouth.

She heard other humans coming up behind the one she had just stabbed. She raised her leg and kicked the human with full force, sending him flying off of her blade and into his comrades behind him. He knocked down two people, and in a flash she was over to them. The first one didn't have a chance to resist; she flipped her sword in her hand and stabbed it down, sinking it into his head and killing him quickly. She ripped it out of his skull, something a normal human would have had trouble with, and spun around to see the other human get to her knees. She raised her gun to aim at Ferelda, but Ferelda was too fast; she leapt to the side just as the human opened fire, missing completely. Ferelda then swung her sword, taking off both of the humans' hands. As the human let out a pathetic scream, Ferelda placed her hand on the humans head. The human went silent for a second, and then started screaming louder as Ferelda applied heat to her head and increased it, then released a small explosion inside of the humans head, making her head pop and send blood and gore everywhere.

The rest of the humans arrived to see three people slaughtered, and a little girl standing over them, her face and armor covered in blood, laughing. Ferelda looked at them and focused, casting her favorite spell; just as they were all about to fire, they were struck with immense fear, freezing them in place like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Ferelda just smiled; she loved this ability. It was unique to her, and it fit her twisted personality perfectly; she loved watching them shake in fear as she slowly approached and slaughtered them like cattle.

She skipped over to them, stopping in front of the first fool. Her rage had not subsided, nor had her blood thirst been quenched; she needed more. She cocked her hand back and swung forward, stabbing the human through the eyes with the claws of her gauntlet. She pushed her fingers as far as they would go, making sure to pierce his brain, then ripped them out, what remained of his eyeballs stuck around the fingers of the gauntlet. She laughed loudly as he fell, seeing the other humans shake more and the smell of piss hitting the air as someone wet themselves.

She was walking to the next one when there was a loud bang and a bullet hit her shoulder, making her stagger slightly. Her armor absorbed almost all of the impact; the worse she would get from it was a bruise. Her armor was made to block even bullets, to an extent. She swung around, her smile disappearing, and saw a young male human, shaking and holding a pistol.

Normally this would be no problem, but when he shot her, it made her lose focus and the humans were released from her fear spell. They staggered, as if they were all being held up a few second ago, and started to recover.

This only made Fereldas rage grow; she yelled, slamming her hand against the ground. The ground shook for a second, then spears of earth started sprouting from the ground, impaling the humans who were to slow to dodge them, sending their bodies up with the spears and making their blood rain downward. She wasted no time, charging at the nearest survivor, who was confused and scared. She swung her sword, cutting the poor bastards throat, making blood spray everywhere as the human fell to the ground and bled out. The blood hit Ferelda full in the face, getting in her eyes, mouth, and nose. She felt pain in her eyes as she tried to rub the blood away, focusing and casting a barrier around her while she was blind.

She cleared her eyes, looking around and seeing that most of the humans were running away. That was fine; the instant she started fighting them, the rest of the Darkspawn surrounded the encampment. There would be no survivors this day.

She looked around until she found the boy who had shot her, in the same spot, his whole body shaking in fear. She lowered her barrier, not seeing him as a threat, and approached him slowly, smiling as she saw his fear grow with every step she took. He at least had the decency to not wet himself when she got to him.

She stopped in front of him, standing right in front of the gun, though it was shaking too much to be of use. She sighed and snatched it from his hands; most likely so fast he barely saw it. He fell to his knees, knowing that his fate was sealed. She stabbed her sword into the ground, her smile growing soft as well as her eyes. She slowly cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. He saw that her eyes, which were red before, were now a beautiful purple, and her expression was a caring one; this is what she would look like if she had been a normal human.

"You not only fired when you knew you had no chance, but stood your ground when your comrades fled, leaving you to die" She said, regaining some of her humanity; it happened every once in a while, when she least expected it. It didn't last long, but she did enjoy it, not feeling this endless rage and blood lust she felt the rest of the time.

She saw the boy was crying. "Fear not young one; I will grant you a merciful death." She gripped his face firmly and twisted it, snapping his neck and killing him quickly. She let him go, his body falling to the ground as she fell to her knees, tears rolling down her face; she let them, glad to feel something beside anger, and sat there, crying while what little humanity she had left slowly faded away.

.

.

"So how did you two meet?" Jane heard Kasey say, and assumed that Kasey was speaking to her. Jane looked back at Kasey, who was smiling as if she didn't have care in the world. The little girl was adorable; Jane wasn't into women or anything like that, but it was impossible not to notice. She was short, had big eyes and her voice even squeaked. It amazed her how Steven didn't hit on her or anything; guys tend to fall for girls like Kasey, yet for the few days they have been traveling together, she hasn't seen Steven show any signs of interest.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. It was a nice day, not too hot with a cool breeze. She guessed that made people more talkative. "I was searching for food when I ran into Clint being mugged by a group of guys. I helped him out and he's been traveling with me ever since." She saw Kasey look at Clint, eyes wide with curiosity, and he nodded, confirming it. "What about you? How did you meet the legend over here?"

She heard Steven grunt at that, and Kasey looked at him, grinning. "Actually, it wasn't much different. I had been chased down by two guys and was in a very bad situation. Steven just walks into the house and starts searching for food as if we weren't there."

Jane turned to look at Steven now. "He didn't help you right off?"

"No." She said, and Jane felt a flicker of anger. He saw a small girl getting beat by two guys and didn't help right away?

"No, he told me that he would help me if I helped myself." Kasey continued, unfazed. "At first, I didn't understand what he meant. But I caught on, so while the guys were looking at Steven, I took a pistol from one of them and shot him. Steven shot the other."

Jane continued looking at Steven, whose face had not changed at all; he had one hell of a poker face. She tried to calm down and asked, "Why did you wait to help her?"

He didn't respond right away. They kept walking for about a minute in silence when he finally spoke up. "Because, as she was, she would have just died another way later. She wasn't ready for this new world we live in, so I made it clear; If you prove to me that you will fight to survive, I will help you. There would be no point in saving her if she wasn't ready to fight." He then looked Jane dead in the eyes, his brown eyes staring into her soul.

"And she did. She proved to me that she could survive, and instead of dying, she has actually saved me as well. I'm not worried with her watching my back." And with that he went back to walking and glaring ahead. He may not have meant to, but she sensed from his words that he was proud of her. Her anger melted away; it wasn't how she would have handled it, but then they were two very different people. He did end up saving Kasey, so she couldn't complain.

As they walked, she wondered if she and Steven being so different would bring problems later. She wasn't much for killing, trying her best to spare someone's life. Steven, on the other hand, seemed to just kill whoever pissed him off. She sighed, deciding to cross that bridge when they came to it. The man rushed an ogre to give them time to save themselves. He was a big help when it came to combat.

She saw Steven stop and raise his hand, telling everyone to stop. They stopped, all looking at him. He was looking up at the sky. She followed his gaze and saw what caught his attention; smoke, and a lot of it, was in the sky, coming from somewhere not far ahead of them. "What are you thinking?" She asked, relying on his military expertise.

He frowned. "Well, since there's smoke but no sounds of battle, I would guess that there was a battle not too long ago. Now the question is whether the winners left soldiers behind; if so, it could be a problem for us no matter who won."

That last part surprised her. "Even if humans won?"

He nodded. "Yes, even then. The only humans that would make a camp around here are the Last Light, and they are against anyone else. Either you join them, or they kill you and take your weapons. They are no better than the Darkspawn, and I wouldn't want to blindly walk into a group of them." He looked back at them, as grim as ever. "Believe it or not, humans can be worst than the Darkspawn."

"So what do we do then? Waste time and go around?" She heard Clint ask, and he sounded snotty to her. If Steven noticed it, he didn't show it. "No, we just need to be cautious once we get close. Stay together and pay attention; for all we know, we could be walking into a trap."

Jane didn't like the sound of that. She gripped her rifle a little tighter as they continued. She glanced at Clint, who was frowning. Why was he snotty with Steven earlier? It was out of character for him. He had always seemed nice, though wary of people. He noticed her looking at caught her eyes, making her look away. Maybe she was just imagining things.

As they got closer, two smells hit Jane at once; the strong smell of smoke, and the smell of the dead. Who ever one, they showed no mercy to the other side, that's for sure. The trees opened up into a clearing, and Steven stopped them at the edge of the trees. He glanced over the corner, and signaled them to do the same. Jane looked around the tree, curious as to what she would see.

Right off the back, it was clear that the Darkspawn won. Tents were either destroyed or on fire, and there were bodies everywhere. She saw signs of magic, seeing scorch marks on the ground and what looked like spears of earth jutting out from the ground, and she saw a few people impaled on the spears. She covered he nose, the smell of death now stronger than the smoke as the crows picked at the dead. She saw a few Darkspawn here and there, eating the corpses that were still fresh. The sight made her sick, but she held it down, ducking back behind the tree.

"Well, it's obvious who won here." Clint said, wrinkling his nose at the smell. She nodded in agreement, but noticed that Steven said nothing, only looked deep in thought. "What are you thinking Steven?" She asked, and noticed Clint glare at her out of the corner of her eye.

Steven frowned, tugging at the strands of hair that had began to grow on his chin. "Well, while all you guys noticed were the bodies, I noticed that there were a few things that weren't on fire. One of those looked like a vehicle, and in working condition."

She peeked back around the tree and scanned the area. Sure enough, she found the vehicle, obviously of military make; it looked like it could withstand bullets. She ducked back. "Well, yes there's one there. Why isn't it on fire like everything else?"

Steven shrugged. "Well, either the Darkspawn don't know what it is, so they see no point in burning it, or…"

"Or it's obviously a trap." Clint finished, sounding snotty again. Jane was going to glare at him but she saw Steven nodding in agreement.

"Yes, it could be a trap. That's what makes this annoying; this was obviously done by Hak's group. That means that he is still very much ahead of us. At this rate, he will reach Denerim before us, and all will be lost. But, if that car had the keys in it and was still in working condition…we could easily get there before them."

"So the question is whether to risk it or not, right?" Kasey said. Steven nodded, and Clint looked mad. "I say it's obviously a trap. There's no point in trying if we die anyway."

"But if Hak reaches Denerim before us, we will all die anyway." Jane said, making Clint look surprised. She looked at Steven. "What do you think we should do?"

He looked at her. "Well, either we try the car, or we get our asses heading in the opposite direction and hope we run into another army that can take on the Darkspawn. At this rate, they will reach Denerim first."

She looked at all of them and realized they were staring at her, waiting on her to decide. She blushed, not knowing what to do. She was about to ask why Steven didn't make the decision, then realized the answer; if Steven said to go, Clint would argue with him. If Jane said to go, they would all agree.

She sighed. She wasn't a leader, and definitely wasn't ready to be put on the spot like this. But it seemed like she had no choice. "Let's go for it. If it's a bust, we will figure out where to go from there."

"If we live through this." Clint said, but to her relief he left it at that. Steven nodded and rushed out from the tree, not waiting any further. He fired his gun, showing amazing accuracy as he hit a Darkspawn dead in the head, taking half of its head off. Now that he was using lead slugs instead of buck shot, he could hit them from farther away, and he seemed to enjoy this; Jane only got to kill one. Steven slaughtered the other six, not missing a single shot. Most didn't even get to stand up before they were put down. When all the Darkspawn were dead, Jane looked at Steven, who didn't look fazed at all.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Jane said, and saw she actually got him to smile. She heard Clint grunt, and they all walked over to the car. Steven tried the door, and they all sighed in relief when the door opened. Steven plopped into the driver's seat and started searching the car. Jane expected the keys to be above him in the mirrors, but was surprised when Steven opened the middle console and pulled them out, twirling them on his finger.

"Looks like we might be able to save humanity yet."

.

.

Steven hummed as he drove, patting the wheel to the music in his head. Sadly, all of the radio stations seemed to be down, and he couldn't find any CD's, so they were stuck with the sound of the engine as they rolled down the road. Steven was actually in a good mood; it was about time they had some good luck. When shit hit the fan, it was like all of the vehicles disappeared, forcing everyone to walk or hope to happen across a horse. With a car on their side, they would reach Denerim in a few days instead of a few weeks, and the beast of a vehicle had not only a full tank of gas, but a few canisters of gas in the back, giving them enough fuel to easily reach Denerim.

Steven looked over at his jolly little group. Kasey was sticking her head out of the window, grinning like a fool and enjoying the wind. Jane seemed to be sleeping; her head against the window, and Clint was looking out the window, glaring at the world. He frowned at the sight; he wasn't dull, he noticed that Clint had something against him. He had no idea what he did to set the mage off, nor did he really care; he had bigger problems than the mage being jealous of him for some stupid reason.

"It feels like forever since I've been in a car!" Kasey exclaimed, laughing. Steven shook his head, not responding; after everything, it was like the girl didn't have a care in the world. She sure had bounced back since their first encounter. He didn't forget that she saved his ass either; the little girl could run! He was going to pay her back for that, one way or another.

"I've…never actually been in a car." Steven heard Clint say, causing both of them to look at him. He blushed at this, looking out the window and not meeting their eyes. "Never?" Kasey said, looking at him like he was a different species. He just shook his head in response.

"Well, now you get too." Steven said, trying his best to be nice, which wasn't one of his strong suits. "You aren't missing out on much anyway; most of the time people just crash and kill themselves in cars. He only reason I know how to drive one is because they force you to learn in the Ferelden military."

Clint didn't respond right away. They drove for a few minutes in silence before he finally spoke up. "Have you ever killed a mage before Hawke?"

The question surprised Steven, and so did Clint using his last name. He nodded slowly. "One. We had a mage who was using blood magic to take control of people in a small town. When we got there, we underestimated how powerful he had gotten; he literally had the entire town under his control. He sent them at us like his own private army, and we were ordered not to kill any civilians. We lost a lot of good people that day, and I was the one to personally put a bullet between the mage's eyes."

It was quiet for a few minutes before Clint spoke up again. "After that, what is your view on mages?"

Steven didn't have to think too hard on this one; everyone had an opinion about the situation with the mages. "I think they got the shitty end of the stick. A few mages go crazy and people just assume all mages are like that. To condemn a group of people for the actions of a few is bullshit, but people are cowards and shun what they don't understand. I lost faith in humanity a long time ago; the only things humans are good at are destroying everything around them. Just look at our history; killing each other based on stupid things like skin, what gods someone believes in, or for living in a different area. It's like people don't understand that all humans, no matter what skin color, what religion, or where you live, are the same species. I think that, even without the Darkspawn, we would end up killing each other anyway. We are a doomed race."

"I disagree with you." Kasey said, surprising him again. He looked at her. "You have my attention short stack. Why do you disagree?"

She gave him that defiant look again. "Well, you said its bullshit to condemn a whole group of people for the actions of a few. But isn't that what you were just doing? Not all humans are bad just because a small portion of us are. Sure, we are far from being a perfect species, but people only seem to remember the negative things, like the wars and such. No one remembers the good things, like how even though Ferelden and Orlais are always at each others throats, we come together whenever the Darkspawn threaten us. And not just that; there are plenty of examples of humans working together to save and create, not destroy. Just look through out history; the Warden who ended the fifth blight had mages, assassins, and other races helping out, like Dwarves, Elves, and even Qunari. The same with your ancestor, Garret Hawke, and the Inquisitor. They are living proof that we can all come together. If people focused more on the positive instead of the negative, we would be more positive."

Steven whistled, clapping his hands in applause. "Well I'll be damned, that's the best argument I've ever gotten. If any of us survive this mess, you should become a politician. We need more people like you, willing to look at the bright side." He saw her blush, smiling and playing with her hair. Steven smiled as well, looking out his driver side window to see where they were.

What he saw killed his smile in an instant. "Oh shit." He said, not knowing what to do. He knew they would catch up with Hak's small army, but he thought it would be later rather than sooner. But as he looked out his window he saw Hak's group with Hak himself in the lead, marching onward. Somehow they hadn't noticed the only car on the road yet.

 _Please don't notice us, please don't notice us._ He did his best not to press on the gas and make anymore noise than he was. Just as he was about passed the clearing and would be blocked by the trees, one of the Darkspawn saw them and roared.

"Well shit." He said, flooring it and hoping for the best.


End file.
